


Fated: Season 6

by ddixons_angel



Series: Fated [6]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Walking Dead Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27209902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddixons_angel/pseuds/ddixons_angel
Summary: Now residing in Alexandria Safe Zone, Gloria and her family have to do everything they can to maintain their newly found safe haven.Follows the main storyline of Season 6 of The Walking Dead.**This is Part 6 of my Fated Series, please read the previous parts if you haven't already! ^^
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Fated [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828717
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The atmosphere within Alexandria was tense but peaceful. Deanna had stepped down from her position as leader of the community after she had lost her son and husband in such a short period of time, appointing Rick as the new leader of Alexandria. When he wasn’t overseeing the town, Gloria had asked him to finally teach her the ropes around a gun. Daryl had gone out early in the morning to hunt and Gloria was practicing her shooting at the makeshift shooting range they had put together near the side of the community. She figured that it was best to learn how to properly aim since her only experience with a gun was when she had shot her target at a close range.

“Gloria.” Gena’s voice rings out from behind her, making Gloria turn around to look at her older sister, “come over and help me clear some things out of my house.” 

“Can’t you get Jacob and Mindy to help you?” Gloria asks.

“We’re clearing things from our house so they’re busy with their own things, I asked Glenn to come help but I need your help too.” Gena tells her.

Gloria sighs and nods, gesturing to the handgun she was holding, “just let me put this back and I’ll come by.”

Gena nods then proceeds to walk back to her house. Gloria does as she had told her sister and returns the handgun to the armory then heads to Gena’s house. She walks up the porch to her house when she hears Glenn’s voice from inside. From the tone of his voice, it seemed like he was having a heated discussion with someone.

“Seriously Gena? I don’t understand you!” he says. 

“He’s fighting with Gena?” Gloria says to herself, she’s never heard of Glenn and Gena having an argument without herself being the start of it.

“You’re always treating Gloria like shit but you’re always doting on me and that’s really unfair to her!” he says, “and you can’t even tell me why she deserves any of the crap you throw at her!”

Gloria sighs at this, so they were fighting about her, again. She decides to finally open the door, the last thing she wanted was for Gena to blame her for a fight she wasn’t even there for. As she does though, she hears Gena’s rebuttal.

“You want to know why? It’s because I never wanted a sister in the first place!” Gena yells.

Tears well up in Gloria’s eyes as she registers the words, Gena never wanted her to ever exist, that’s why she hated her. Glenn looks past Gena when the door opens and his face falls when he sees Gloria. As Gena’s back was facing the door, she hadn’t realized that Gloria heard every word.

“Gloria…” Glenn says softly.

Gena looks at Glenn then turns to see Gloria in the open doorway, a hurt expression on her face as she tries to hold herself together. Gena steps towards her but Gloria doesn’t give her a chance to explain as she storms out of the house.

“Gloria, wait-” Gena calls out, the sound of the door slamming cuts her off.

“Gloria!” Glenn calls out to her, he lets out a sigh and shakes his head at Gena before going off to chase after Gloria, grabbing her arm once he reaches her, making her stop in her tracks, “She didn’t mean that.”

Gloria doesn’t look up at him, instead she looks at the ground as she tries to control her breathing, doing her best not to cry in the middle of the street.

“Yeah she did…” Gloria whispers, her voice sounded broken, “you know what she meant.”

“S-she… she didn’t actually mean it, come on, you can’t think she actually meant what she said. Her and I were talking and it just became a heated discussion, you know how she is when she’s upset.” Glenn does his best to defend Gena, although he knew himself that it was a horrible excuse.

Gloria scoffs at that, “no matter how pissed off someone is, they should never say they don’t want the other to ever exist.” 

“She… didn’t mean it that way…” Glenn didn’t know what else he could say. 

“Sure she didn’t.” Gloria retorts bitterly, she then shakes off Glenn’s hand and continues to walk away from him.

“Where’re you going?” Glenn calls out, worry in his voice.

“I’m gonna kill something.” 

—

In the late afternoon, Gloria had wandered outside the walls of Alexandria. Wielding her daggers as she explored the woods, she had killed plenty of walkers already within the few hours she’d been outside. She needed to let out her frustrations and emotions one way or another. She’d also brought a handgun equipped with a silencer. Since Rick had taught her the basics of shooting, she felt the need to bring it so that she could work on her accuracy if she wanted to. 

As she had roamed the woods for hours already, Gloria felt that it was time to head back to the community. On her way back, movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looks to the side and sees a possum scurrying along. A small smile tugs at her lips as she pulls out her gun from its holster, she could get some practice shooting and hunting after all.

Moving swiftly and quietly through the woods, she follows the animal close enough without scaring it away. Gloria carefully raises the gun in her hands, aims just as Rick taught her, cocks back the hammer then pulls the trigger. 

“Yes!” Gloria whispers happily as the bullet pierces the possum’s neck. 

She doesn’t take too long to celebrate her shot though, she knew that she had to get to the possum before any walkers did. With this in mind, Gloria hurries over to the carcass of the animal but she doesn’t realize that there is a dip in the level of the ground. She lets out a gasp as she falls and tumbles down the small but steep hill leading to her catch. 

“Ugh, great…” she groans as she stands up, brushing herself off of the dirt and leaves that stuck to her clothes. 

Gloria looks up from where she fell and sighs when she sees that walkers have already begun to feast on her catch. She looks around her and then frowns when she doesn’t recognize where she is, she had followed the possum to hunt it but didn’t keep in mind where she was actually going. 

“Could this day get any worse…” she mutters to herself.

She figures that the best way to find her way back to Alexandria would be to retrace her steps and that meant she had to climb back up to where she had fallen. Gloria lets out a breath as she starts to climb up the small hill, using branches and smaller tree trunks to her advantage. 

“Shit!” she yelps out when the branch she was holding on to snaps and sends her tumbling backwards. 

Her yelp and noise from her second fall must have alerted the walkers nearby of her existence as groans and snarls began surrounding her. Seeing the walkers coming closer, Gloria quickly gets up and stabs the closest walker with a dagger. She yanks her dagger out and pushes the walker away from her as another one comes too close, she’s only able to hold it by its neck to prevent it from biting her. The walker was using all of its weight to lean in on Gloria, making it even harder for her to balance and get a proper jab at it’s skull. She glances behind her as she hears more snarling and grunts as the one she is holding snaps at her. 

“Dammit!” She swears in a panic, she’s about to be sandwiched between two walkers and there was no one around to help her. 

The walker from behind her grabs hold of her arm that was holding her dagger, trying to pull her towards itself. As Gloria struggles to get out of her predicament, Gena’s voice echoes through her mind. 

_‘I never wanted a sister in the first place!’_

No, her mind couldn’t do this to her, not now. She was in the middle of fighting for her life, she couldn’t start breaking down and crying. This was not the time for that. She couldn’t spare a single second to think about her emotional distress when she was about to get eaten alive. 

The whistle of an arrow was what snapped Gloria out of her trance as the walker in front of her drops dead to the ground. With the weight of the walker lifted off her, she was able to yank her arm out from the other walker’s grasp. She then plunges her dagger into the walker’s skull, killing it as she yanks her blade back out, letting it fall to the ground.

“What the hell were ya doin’?!” Daryl shouts at her as he rushes up to her, pulling the arrow out of the walker he shot, “ya got some sort o’ death wish?!”

“What if I do?!” Gloria snaps at him, making him gawk at her as she walks away from him.

With the day she was having, Gloria was snappy and very irritable. She was hurt by her sister, lost her catch to walkers, nearly became walker food, and now her boyfriend was yelling at her. All rational thoughts and reason were far from her as she continues to walk away. Not knowing whether she was going in the right direction, she still could hear Daryl’s footsteps as he follows her.

“Where ya goin’?” he calls out to her after following her for a while.

“Back home.” she says without looking back at him.

Daryl scoffs at her, “ya know you’re going the wrong way?” 

Gloria stops walking, she bites her lip then looks back at Daryl, “I knew that…” 

He had to stop himself from chuckling at her stubbornness, he could tell that something was bothering her, that something happened back home and she was clearly irritable. Laughing at her would only make matters worse. 

“C’mon.” he beckons her to follow him leading the way back to Alexandria, “ya a’right?”

Gloria just nods, but doesn’t say anything back to him as she follows him back home. The trip back is silent between the two, Gloria’s mind went back to what Gena had said while Daryl was trying to figure out what could have happened to make her this way. She’d never snapped at him like she did before and it worried him, especially with the context of her words. In all the time that he knew her, Gloria had never been one to purposely hurt herself or try to get herself killed. He needed to find out what happened to make her even think this way. 

When the two get back to Alexandria, Gloria rushes to get back to their house with Daryl trailing close behind her. She goes straight to their shared bedroom and sets her bag on the vanity table beside the full body mirror. Daryl leans on the doorframe, watching her. 

“What were ya even doin’ outside the walls? You’re suppose’ to stay inside where it’s safe.” Daryl says, his voice gentle but he sighs when she doesn’t respond, “were ya tryin’ to hunt or somethin’? Ya barely know how to shoot.”

His words cause Gloria to turn and glare at him, “for your information, I killed a possum today.” 

“Ya almost got **yerself** killed if I hadn’t saved ya!” Daryl retorts back, pushing himself off the doorframe.

“Yeah, well no one asked you to!” Gloria snaps, she then mutters under her breath as she looks down, “it might have been better that way.”

“What did ya just say?” Daryl frowns, getting angry at her words, “the hell is wrong with ya?! We’ve been through so damn much, from the quarry to the prison to here! We finally got a safe place for everyone and ya wanna just throw it all away for no damn reason?!” 

Daryl strides up to her and places his hands on her shoulder to make her look at him, “ya told me ya never want me to think o’ any stupid ideas, right? Well that’s the same for ya. Ya can’t be doin’ stupid shit like that, it jus’ makes me worry that I’ll need to save ya whenever you’re out there.”

“I had it handled, I can take care of myself.” Gloria says stubbornly, shrugging off his hands.

“Then what happened out there, huh? Ya almost got bit if it weren’t for me.” Daryl reiterates then he sighs, “are ya tryin’ to make me regret savin’ ya ‘r somethin’?”

Gloria pauses at his words and looks at him, “…do you?”

Her question catches him off guard. Of course he doesn’t regret it, but Daryl’s speechless that the thought would even cross her mind. His silence, however, makes her think that he does, triggering her inner demons that were summoned this morning from Gena’s words. Without another word, Gloria pushes past Daryl and leaves the room. She exits the house altogether, slamming the front door behind her. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

Daryl hadn’t chased after Gloria after she left the house, he decided that she wanted to have some space and time alone to collect herself. He understood her well enough to know that when she was in the mindset she was in, he wouldn’t be able to get through to her and might have made things worse if he chased after her. He was starting to worry though when the whole night passed and Gloria hadn’t come back home. Daryl had been out on the porch all night, waiting for her to come back. 

“Hey, Glenn,” Daryl calls out as he walks out of the house, “ya know where yer sister is?”

“Shouldn’t you know?” Glenn furrows his brow.

“She didn’ come back las’ night…” Daryl asks.

“What?” Glenn frowns at this.

“We had a fight…” Daryl sighs, “I know she can handle herself, she took her daggers an’ all but… ‘m still worried, ya know?”

Glenn sighs and nods, “yeah… I know… what did you two fight about though?”

“Saved her out in the woods an’ then I yelled at her when we got back home for bein’ stupid.” Daryl sighs, looking down.

“That can’t be all of it, come on, Daryl, we both know that she wouldn’t get upset at you for just yelling at her.” Glenn points out.

Daryl nods in agreement, “yeah, but tha’s only if she was her normal self.”

“What do you mean?” Glenn furrows his brow in confusion.

“When she was fightin’ those walkers in the woods, it didn’ look like she was tryin’. Somethin’ was off, then she says some shit like it might’ve been better if she didn’ make it, then asked me if I regret savin’ her.” Daryl explains, sighing heavily.

“What did you say to that?” Glenn asks with a sigh, he knew why she was acting the way she was.

“I couldn’ say anythin’ ‘fore she stormed out.” Daryl tells him, “did somethin’ happen here that I should know about?”

Glenn lets out a breath before explaining, “she overheard Gena say something that hurt her… more than I thought it would, Gloria usually takes her words like a grain of salt.”

“What did she say?” Daryl presses on.

“That… she never wanted a sister…” Glenn sighs but then quickly adds before Daryl can get too mad, “I already gave Gena a lot of shit for saying that.” 

Glenn was smart to add that because Daryl felt enraged when he heard what was said to his girl. No one should ever say that type of thing to anyone, not even Merle said those types of things to him. Yeah, Merle said a lot of messed up things to him but nothing about not wanting him to exist. So for Daryl to know that someone said that to Gloria, the most important person in his life, definitely made his blood boil. 

“Ya sure ya gave her enough shit?” Daryl growls.

“I’m sure.” Glenn says, putting a hand on Daryl’s shoulder to try and calm him down, “you don’t need to worry about that, what you need to worry about is making up with Gloria.”

Daryl sighs and nods, “ya think she’s calm enough to listen?” 

“It’s been a night, so maybe?” Glenn says, “you never know until you try, plus she loves you more than anything, she can’t stay upset at you forever.”

A small side smile pulls at Daryl’s lips as he nods. Glenn then thinks of something and signals to Daryl to wait for a bit. He goes back into the house and quickly comes back out holding a Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Cream chocolate bar. He hands it to Daryl but he waves it off.

“‘M good.” 

“It’s not for you.” Glenn says as he grabs Daryl’s hand and places the bar in his palm, “it’s Gloria’s favorite, never fails to cheer her up.”

“Thanks,” Daryl takes the candy bar and chuckles, “should get to findin’ her first.”

He gets up from his seat on the porch then heads down with Glenn, crossing paths with Sasha on the way, “Hey Sasha, ya seen Gloria ‘round?” 

She looks at them and nods, “she’s in the guard tower, been in there all night.”

“Thanks,” Daryl nods at her then proceeds on his way to the guard tower.

—

Gloria had a rifle propped up on the ledge of the window and aimed at a single walker. She cocks the hammer and pulls the trigger, swearing under her breath when she misses completely. She tries again but pauses her actions when she hears someone climbing up to the guard tower. She had a pretty good idea who it was.

“I wouldn’t come near me if I were you, I have a gun.” Gloria says. 

“Ya won’t shoot me.” she hears Daryl challenge her when he gets up to the platform.

Gloria glances at him and huffs, “don’t test me,” though they both knew very clearly that she would never shoot him.

“Can I talk to ya?” Daryl asks, his voice soft and gentle.

She bites her lip then lowers the gun to her side and looks at him. He’s shifting on his feet while looking at the ground like a kid who’s waiting for their scolding after they’ve done something wrong. Gloria has to keep herself from breaking into a smile as she sees how cute he looks. She nods and waits for him to start speaking.

“‘M sorry…” Daryl says in a whisper that was barely audible.

Guilt starts to bubble in her heart when she hears his apology. She knew that she was the one at fault with how she acted and she knew how stubborn she was being. Her mind was clouded with emotion and she would always shut herself out and run away, pushing people who actually cared about her away. She’d done that to Glenn on multiple occasions too. 

“It’s not your fault I was dumb and not thinking properly….” she sighs, looking at the ground, ashamed and embarassed, “I’m sorry, I know you yelled at me because you care… but I refused to listen.”

“I do care ‘bout ya. Ya mean more to me than ya’ll ever know.” Daryl says, he then steps to her and gently lifts her chin up to make her look at him, “ya listen to me, a’right? Never let anyone tell ya that the world would be better without ya ‘cause that’s bullshit. Don’t matter who’s sayin’ it.”

Gloria smiles softly at that, “Glenn told you what happened, I’m guessing.”

Daryl nods, “he also gave me a cheat on cheerin’ ya up.”

She tilts her head at his words, confused. Daryl reaches into his pocket and pulls out the chocolate bar Glenn had given him and shows it to her. Gloria’s eyes light up when she sees it and Daryl has to stop himself from chuckling at her change in expression. 

“Ya’ll only get it if ya promise to never think like that again.” Daryl tells her.

Like a child, Gloria nods quickly and reaches out for the candy bar and Daryl finally lets out a hearty chuckle when she grabs it from him. She giggles as she opens the wrapper, breaking off a piece and popping it in her mouth, then she offers it to Daryl who shakes his head.

Gloria shrugs and hums happily, “more for me.”

Daryl rolls his eyes playfully at her words, “ya finally learnin’ how to shoot?”

“Yeah, my aim’s still shit though.” she says, gesturing to the single walker that was making its way along the wall, “I’ve got a long way to go.”

“Didn’t ya say ya shot a possum?” Daryl asks.

“I did, but that was with a handgun. Shotguns and rifles are harder with the kickback.” Gloria shrugs.

He furrows his brows for a moment as if in deep thought then takes the rifle from her, “c’mon, I’ll teach ya how to shoot.”

Gloria smiles gratefully at him then wraps up the candy bar and puts it away in her pocket as she follows him down the guard tower. He tells her to wait at the gate as he goes to get his crossbow from their house and when he meets up with her, Eugene nods to Daryl as he approaches, then he opens the gate for them. 

They head into the woods with Daryl leading the way as the forest was his territory. Gloria understood why he brought her outside the walls, he believes it was better that she practices with moving targets rather than still ones. She likes that mindset as well, but she was worried that with her accuracy being so poor, all she’d be doing is waste bullets.

“Daryl, are you sure we should be practicing out here?” Gloria says as she follows him.

“Why shouldn’ we?” he asks without looking back at her.

“I’m a horrible shot, all we’re going to be doing out here is wasting bullets.” Gloria argues.

He scoffs, “ya’ll be wastin’ bullets inside the walls shootin’ at stray walkers, might as well be out here takin’ yer chance that ya might actually hit somethin’ we can take home.” 

A small smile tugs at her lips, “is that how you learned to be such a good shot?”

“It’ll take practice to become as good as me.” Daryl smirks, Gloria loved how his confidence rose whenever he was out in the wild. 

“So, what you’re saying is if I keep practicing out here with you, I’ll become just as good, if not a better shot than you?” she teases with a cheeky grin.

Daryl playfully eyes her but doesn’t say anything in response, instead Gloria notices that his ears perk up then in a swift movement, he looks to the side and raises his crossbow. A single bolt shoots out, pinning a now dead squirrel to a tree trunk. Gloria blinks at him, stunned at how fast his movement was, it was like he didn’t even need to try. This was actually the first time she witnessed his skills in shooting up close. When they went on hunting trips together before, Gloria was focused on tracking animals and pointing them out for Daryl to shoot. 

She pouts at him when he smirks at her, “show off.”

He chuckles and kisses her forehead before going over to retrieve his catch, “ya’ll get there, sunshine.”

She follows Daryl further into the woods when he raises his hand and points to a tree trunk in the distance, “shoot that tree right there.”

Gloria frowns at his instruction, “I thought you said you didn’t want me shooting at still targets.”

“Still gotta see yer form.” he tells her simply.

Deciding not to fight him on it, she does as told, positioning the gun up as Rick had taught her and aiming at the tree Daryl pointed to before. He puts his hand on her back to soothe her.

“Relax,” he whispers, “you’re too tense, throws off yer aim.”

Gloria takes a deep breath, trying to relax her body before tightening her grip on the rifle, preparing for the kickback. She pulls back the hammer of the gun and just before she pulls the trigger, Daryl stops her, putting a hand on her arm. She looks at him with a confused expression, about to ask him why he stopped her when he raises his finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet. He glances at her then nods pointedly to the other side. Slowly, Gloria turns her head to look in the direction Daryl had pointed and she lets out a quiet gasp. A wild buck was in the distance, unaware of their presence. She glances at Daryl as he nods at her. Raising the gun again, she aims for the buck. 

“Easy.” he whispers gently, patting her back.

Gloria steadies her breath and once again tightens her grip on the rifle. As she already cocked back the hammer, now all she needed to do was pull the trigger and hope it hits her target. A silenced shot sounds as she pulls the trigger, the bullet piercing through the buck’s neck, killing the animal. 

“Huh.” Gloria says as she blinks, surprised that she was able to hit it right where she aimed. 

Daryl chuckles at her reaction then makes his way over to the buck, “c’mon, we gotta get to it ‘fore the walkers do.” 

She quickly follows him, clicking the safety on before slinging the strap of the gun on her shoulder. She takes Daryl’s crossbow, carrying it for him as he gathers up the buck to get it back to Alexandria. 

“I hope you don’t try to take credit for my kill.” Gloria jokes as she walks beside him.

Daryl playfully rolls his eyes at her, “they wouldn’t believe me if I did anyway, yer shot was too sloppy since ya got it in its neck, might not’ve killed it. I woulda got it in the head.” 

His words make her gawk at him, scoffing, “you are so rude.”

Gloria walks ahead of Daryl back to Alexandria, not waiting for him as payback for teasing her. Daryl laughs at her reaction, shaking his head as he follows her back to their home. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

In the late afternoon, Gloria was helping Maggie set up a plot of land within the walls of Alexandria. They were going to try and grow their own crops for the community so that when runs went dry, the people would still have fresh produce and crops. As they worked, the blazing sun beat down on them and Gloria had taken off her flannel, wrapping it around her waist, leaving her in her tank top and jeans. She digs the garden hoe into the soil as per Maggie’s instruction but pauses her actions as she looks around when she feels eyes on her. People of Alexandria were walking by, but not without shooting her a curious glance. Gloria sighs as she knows what they were thinking, and it wasn’t that they were curious what crops they were trying to plant. 

“You alright?” Maggie calls out as Gloria stops digging.

Gloria nods as she leans the tool on her body and takes her flannel off her waist, putting it back on to cover her scars, “I’m fine.”

Maggie’s expression softens when she sees her put back on her flannel, knowing her insecurity, “don’t mind them, those are just a permanent reminder that you’re strong.”

Gloria gives Maggie a soft smile, nodding in agreement. The two get back to gardening, working hard to loosen the soil so that crops and plants can grow easier and quicker. Gloria had never gardened before so she looked towards Maggie for all the guidance and knowledge there was to it as she grew up on a farm. 

“Gloria.” Gena’s voice calls out, stopping Gloria from her tasks as she looks at her older sister, “come with me, I need to talk to you.”

“I’m busy.” Gloria says flatly as she goes back to digging.

Gena frowns at this and goes up to Gloria and gently grabs her arm to stop her from working, “ _Please, come with me_.” she asks in Korean, “ _please?_ ”

Gloria looks up at Gena and sighs, she turns to Maggie, “I’ll be back.”

Maggie looks up at her and smiles, nodding in understanding before she goes back to working on the garden. Gloria leans the garden hoe on their makeshift fence then follows Gena back to her house. She stands awkwardly by the island counter as Gena pours boiling hot water into two cups for tea. Gena slides a cup to Gloria, taking the other for herself. The younger peers into the cup, recognizing the smell of earl grey tea, both of the sisters’ favorites. Gloria knew what this was about, Gena always made this tea for her when she was trying to apologize. 

“I’m sorry.” Gena sighs heavily, “What I said… what you heard, I didn’t mean it that way. I was… I was angry at myself… What you said the night Glenn got shot, about me choosing my family… I was angry that you were right about me…. I know I hurt you, and I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.” 

“You said you didn’t mean it that way…” Gloria says, her eyes still glued to the cup, “how did you mean it then?" 

Gena let’s out a sigh, "I meant… I meant that I didn’t want to be an older sister to a sister… Because… I was scared and didn’t know how to be a good role model… With Glenn, I didn’t have to be a role model because.. Well because he’s a guy… I bet that doesn’t make any sense and that sounds so stupid I know… But it’s the truth… I’m sorry." 

Gloria continues to stare into the cup of tea, Gena purses her lips, nervous as she waits for her to respond. It was rare for Gena to be so sincere, in the past whenever she tried to apologize, she’d always throw it in Gloria’s face that it was because she did something that caused her moodiness. So when Gena’s first words were ‘I’m sorry’, it threw her off completely. 

“Why… why do you hate me?” Gloria asks in a soft but broken voice, her eyes wet with tears.

The question shocks Gena and her heart breaks as she takes in Gloria’s expression, “I-I don’t.”

Gloria looks down and nods, she’d have to accept the answer since it probably was the only one she was going to get. She bites down on her lip to keep from crying, but a tear rolls down her cheek anyway. She hears Gena shuffle then feels her hands on her shoulders, making Gloria look up at her older sister.

“I don’t hate you, Gloria.” Gena tells her, looking into her eyes. 

“Then why did you always make it seem like you did?” Gloria was slowly breaking down, her sister was the one who forced her to put up her walls, but she was also the only one who could break them down so easily. 

“Because… I’m your older sister, I have the responsibility to make sure you grow up strong, with Glenn babying you, I knew I had to be cold and harsh to you… so you could fight for yourself, defend yourself. I couldn’t let you be so sheltered otherwise you’d break in the real world, especially in this new world. I knew you would hate me and resent me forever… but I had to try and make you stronger,” Gena pours her heart out.

“How does putting the blame on me for everything make me stronger? You made everything my fault ever since we were kids, I grew up… thinking that every little thing that went wrong was always my fault.” Gloria chokes out, more tears fall, staining her cheeks.

“I never… I never wanted to blame you… Mindy… she doesn’t know about why I treated you the way I do, so when she saw how you talked back at me all the time… I let her talk me into blaming you for everything… I know it’s not a good reason and it was just stupid… but with how you talked back to me… it was easier to see you that way and I-” 

“So you put it all on me?!” Gloria cuts Gena off with her outburst, “I looked up to you… I wanted to hate you for what you put me through… but I couldn’t. I resent you, but I can’t hate you because I’m an idiot and for some reason I love you. I love you so damn much that I ended up hating myself because I could never be good enough to be your little sister!”

“I’m sorry… so sorry…” is all Gena can say through her sobs.

“I only ever talked back and rebelled so that you could see me. I only ever wanted you to be proud of me.” Gloria cries, unable to hold back her emotions anymore as she lets out her true feelings towards her older sister.

Gena pulls Gloria in for a tight hug as the younger bawls in her arms. She cradles the back of Gloria’s head with her hand as she continuously whispers that she’s sorry in her ear. 

“I know I’m a bad older sister… I should have never put you through all that… you deserve so much better… you’ve grown up and you’ve done so much good in the world.” Gena pulls back from the hug and wipes Gloria’s tears away with her thumb, “and I’m so so proud of you for it.”

A small tearful smile tugs at Gloria’s lips as she hears her sister’s words, “ _older sister_ ,” she calls out the Korean endearment and hugs her once more.

Gena lets out a soft chuckle as she hugs her back, “I just said you’re all grown up but you’re acting like a baby again.”

Gloria sniffles, blushing slightly at her teasing, she hides her face in the crook of her sister’s neck, “shush…” 

—

Later that night, Gloria was back in the den of her house with Glenn, Carl, Tara, Maggie, and Rosita playing a game of Uno. Carl had found the game in his room and decided it was a good idea to have some fun to get their minds off everything that happened in the last few days. It seemed to be working as playful banter and laughter emanated from the living room out onto the porch where Daryl was seated having a smoke. A moment later, footsteps catch his attention as Gena walks up the steps of the porch.

“Hi, Daryl, right?” she says with a small smile.

He nods, hesitant, then he gestures inside, “they’re inside.”

“Glenn, you betrayed me!” Gloria exclaims from inside.

“I’m sorry! I had to!” Glenn defends.

Gena chuckles and nods, “I can hear that, I didn’t come to see them though. I wanted to talk to you.”

Daryl eyes her warily, “me?”

He was aware that her and Gloria had made up, but with what he knew about Gena, Daryl couldn’t completely trust her yet. Yes, he had told Gloria to make up with her sister, but that didn’t mean he had to like her as a person, especially given what Gena said the other day. Still, he felt the need to respect her since he knows that Gena still means a lot to both Glenn and Gloria; they’d also put up with Merle’s bullshit for him after all. 

“You don’t like me very much, do you.” Gena says, taking a careful step towards him, her tone factual rather than questioning.

Daryl grunts at that, “heard ‘bout how ya treated Gloria, an’ what ya said the other day… honestly if ya were her brother instead I woulda beat ya…”

“You’re straight forward,” Gena chuckles, “just like her.” 

“Yeah… so ‘re ya…” Daryl says, he then takes a puff from his cigarette but turns to blow away from Gena’s direction, “can I ask ya somethin’?”

“Go ahead,” Gena replies.

“Why’d ya not believe Glenn when he told ya tha’ prick was bullyin’ him?” Daryl says, there was bitterness in his voice. 

The entire situation bothered him and Daryl couldn’t stop himself from asking. Glenn had become a brother to him and Daryl found himself protective of both him and Gloria. He knew that they both still love their sister so he gave her the benefit of the doubt but Daryl just couldn’t wrap his mind around it. It was clear that Gena doted on Glenn, so how would she not believe him when he tells her that he was being bullied? 

Gena lets out a deep sigh, “I have no good excuse for that other than I was stupid and blind. I only believed what I wanted…”

“Ya chose to believe Glenn was lyin’ to ya?” Daryl raises his eyebrow at her, it was taking a lot for him not to lash out at her.

“Mindy and I grew up together, so naturally Jacob and Glenn did too. I always thought they were friends, and it wasn’t until that fight that Glenn said anything about being bullied by him and so I thought he was lying just to protect Gloria.” Gena says, her eyes welling up with tears as she speaks, “at the time, it upset me that Glenn would resort to lying in order to protect her… but I should have known better… Glenn can’t lie… and Gloria would have never let him either…”

“You’re right on one thing, that is pretty damn stupid,” Daryl says, taking another drag from his cigarette.

He half expected Gena to get angry at him for his words but instead she lets out a chuckle, making him look at her in slight confusion. Gena shakes her head with a smile.

“Now I can definitely see why she chose you,” Gena tells him.

“Wha’?” he blurts out automatically; even he doesn’t even know why Gloria chose him out of all people.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way, Daryl,” Gena says, she continues when he just stares at her, “you wear your heart on your sleeve and say whatever’s on your mind. You don’t care what people think about you or what you say, you just say it. In other words, you’re an honest man and you don’t hide your intentions.”

Daryl shifts slightly in his seat, feeling awkward as she describes him, he scoffs, “ya don’ know me.”

“You’re right, I don’t but I can tell you something I know for certain, though. Gloria loves you,” Gena says, “and I mean… she’s head over heels in love with you.”

He looks away from her, wanting to hide his now blushing face from Gena’s eyes. Daryl knew Gloria loved him, of course he knew that she cared for him. She had shown him that more than enough times, but to hear it from someone else, and to that extent made Daryl feel more flustered and warm on the inside that he didn’t know how to process it. 

“What makes ya so sure?” he asks, still averting his eyes from her.

“The way she looks at you, how she cares for you, how she acts around you. When you and Jacob fought that day and Gloria rushed to your side, I’ve never seen her like that before, so gentle and caring, I’ve never seen her like that before with anyone,” Gena informs him.

Daryl feels his face getting redder by the second as he registers what Gena had just told him. HIs lips involuntarily tug into a smile remembering back to that day. 

“What’s your last name, Daryl?” Gena suddenly asks when he stays silent.

He glances up at her, now wary of her question, “Dixon… why?”

Gena seems to be in deep thought as she stays silent, not answering Daryl right away. He grows anxious as he stares at her, a sense of fear bubbling inside him as he tries to read her expression. Did she know about his family? Maybe she’d seen it in the papers when he lost his mother in the house fire, but that happened when he was just a kid, Gena wouldn’t have read such a thing in the papers as a child, would she? Or maybe she’d heard of his family name from her job as a lawyer. His father and brother didn’t exactly have the cleanest records, but that was way back in Georgia. As bad as their records were, they weren’t bad enough to spread across the country, were they? 

“Not bad,” Gena finally says with a smile, then she looks at Daryl, “Gloria Dixon doesn’t sound bad at all, does it?”

“Huh?” was all Daryl could say, he did not expect that at all.

“It’s my way of saying that you and Gloria have my blessing, whether you two decide to take it to the next step or not, you have my blessing,” Gena says, sincerity in her voice.

“Sure yer friend wouldn’ like that very much…” Daryl mutters, referring to Jacob.

“He won’t be a bother anymore, I told him to leave Gloria alone.” Gena says.

“An’ he’s gonna listen?” Daryl scoffs, not believing that.

“Yes, because I told him that if he doesn’t listen, I won’t stop you, Glenn, and Gloria from wailing on him,” she says, “sure, Mindy didn’t like that very much but she understood where I was coming from. She’s protective of Jacob, but I’ve learned to be protective of both Glenn and Gloria too.”

Daryl nods at that, pursing his lips, “ya said somethin’ ‘bout takin’ it to the next step… would she want that?” he asks after a moment of contemplation, Daryl had never thought about that before, he was content just being with Gloria, but he wasn’t sure if she was happy just being with him.

“To be completely honest with you, I don’t know, I think the best person for you to ask would be Glenn,” Gena answers.

“‘S that all ya came to talk to me ‘bout?” Daryl asks.

“That… and to tell you that if you ever hurt my little sister, I will hurt you a thousand times worse,” she warns, then frowns when Daryl scoffs at her.

“No offense… but ‘m pretty sure ya hurt her more than I ever will.” Daryl shoots back. 

Gena takes a breath then nods, “fair… you two definitely are made for each other.”

He looks at her then they both let out a chuckle. She didn’t seem to take any offense to his words. Suddenly, the door to the house opens, catching both of their attention as they look over to see Gloria pop her head out the door.

“Hey Gena,” she says with a smile as she steps out, letting the door shut softly behind her, then she glances between her and Daryl, “Is uh… is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s okay,” Gena says as Daryl hums a yes, “we’re just talking, don’t worry, I’m not picking on him.”

Gloria scoffs playfully at that, “yeah, I doubt Daryl would let you pick on him.”

“Heard ya were gettin’ betrayed by Glenn?” Daryl gives her a side smile, amused.

“Yeah… he stacked a plus two on me and I had to draw four… traitor!” Gloria says purposely loud so that Glenn could hear her.

“It’s called self preservation!” Glenn says back from inside the living room.

Gena chuckles at that, “alright, I’ll leave you to play.”

“You don’t want to come in?” Gloria asks as Gena turns to leave.

The older woman shakes her head then takes her leave, waving goodbye to the couple. Daryl takes the last puff from his smoke then flicks it off to the side. 

“What did you guys talk about, Carol said she noticed you two talking for a bit,” Gloria asks after a moment of silence. 

“Nothin’,” Daryl mutters, “jus’ said we have her blessin’.”

“What?” Gloria asks.

“Exactly what I said.” Daryl chuckles, he then looks at her when she doesn’t respond and gets up from his seat when he sees her eyes watering, “hey, wha’s wrong?”

She shakes her head and smiles tearfully at him as he steps towards her and caresses her face, “nothing’s wrong. I’m just happy. I have you, I have Glenn, a bunch of people I can call my family, and I have a proper relationship with my sister. Took the end of the world for it to happen but, I’m just so happy.”

Daryl smiles at her words, then he gently pulls her in and plants a kiss on her forehead before holding her close, “silly girl.”

She wraps her arms around his torso and snuggles into his embrace. They stay that way for a moment until Rick walks up the steps to the porch looking rather distressed.

He looks at the couple and hesitates to speak but does after a moment of contemplation, “Daryl, I hate to break this up, but I need to talk to you about something.”

“Wha’s wrong?” Daryl asks as Gloria pulls away from him and looks at their leader, also noting his expression. 

Rick glances at Gloria then back at Daryl and she understands that he needed to speak with him in private, “don’t be spreading too many rumors about me.”

The two chuckle at her words, Rick gives her a nod as a thank you and Gloria pats his arm before heading back into the house. 

—

The next day, many of the residents of Alexandria were gathered in Deanna’s den where Rick had called a town meeting. It was about what he and Daryl had discussed the night before; Rick and Morgan had come across a quarry filled with walkers while they were dealing with Pete’s corpse as per Deanna’s request to not bury a killer within the walls. The two had come up with a plan, a dangerous plan, but it had to be done in order to keep Alexandria standing.

“That quarry is a danger to all of us. The amount of walkers Morgan and I saw can tear this place apart if they break out, and they will. It’s only a matter of time before they do, so we, as a community, have to do something about it to keep this place standing.” Rick explains, “now, Daryl and I, we have a plan but we need as many people as possible to make sure it works so that we can all remain safe.”

“What kind of a plan are you suggesting here? Bottleneck the herd and have each of us kill them off as they come out?” Carter, an ignorant Alexandrian, asks rhetorically, clearly doubting Rick as a leader.

“That would only work if you were like us,” Rick says, referring to his group, “most of you have never even been outside these walls after this all started, I can’t count on you to keep to that plan, that’d be stupid. Instead, we’ll lead the herd away from here, set off flares and keep it moving. Daryl will lead with his bike, I’m thinking Sasha and Abraham as his backup.”

Rick looks over to the two mentioned and they both nod at him, agreeing to their part in the plan. Gloria furrows her brow in worry as Rick explained that Daryl would be riding alongside a large herd of walkers. She looks over at Daryl and he catches her expression, nodding to her to let her know that it’ll all be alright. 

“We’ll have two teams,” Rick continues, “one on each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We’re gonna have a few people on watch from now on, Rosita, Spencer, and Holly, so they’re out. Denise and Gloria on infirmary duty in case things go rough, so they’re out too. Who’s in?”

There’s a moment of silence in the room when Glenn raises his hand as the first one to volunteer, Rick nods at him in approval and then looks around the room, “anyone else?”

The leader of a runner group, Heath, raises his hand to volunteer as well. Seeing that one of theirs stepped forward, more and more hands start to rise in the room, among those was also Jacob. Carter looks around the room with a frown before he steps up. 

“How can we trust that you’ll keep us safe if we volunteer? You’ll look out for your own, yeah sure, but how can we all trust you after you…” he trails off, unable to finish his sentence.

Rick eyes him and dares him to continue, “after I what?”

“A-after you… shoot a man in the face.” Carter manages to stutter out.

“Enough!” Deanna, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, snaps, “we are going with Rick’s plan and we need people.” 

Seeing their former leader step up, a majority of the people raise their hands as they want to contribute in protecting the community. Nicholas hesitantly looks around before raising his hand as well causing Glenn to frown in frustration. 

“Can you handle it?” Rick asks Nicholas when he notices Glenn’s change in expression.

“You need people, I’m willing to help,” Nicholas stands his ground.

Rick looks over at Glenn, waiting for his response and only agrees when he sees Glenn nodding at him, “Okay.”

Once they have their volunteers, Rick goes through the plan in detail, answering any questions anyone has for him. He needed to make sure everyone understood their part so that nothing could go wrong. He was also willing to hear people’s concerns in case they saw a hole in the plan that he didn’t. With the plan set, it was decided that they would be making preparations and doing a dry run in the next few days. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The people of Alexandria all worked together to set the plan into place; filling up sandbags to hold up the sheets of metal for guiding the herd, parking trucks and cars on the designated roads to keep the herd on route. Eugene had also discussed with the town’s construction team a way to reinforce the walls. However, while preparations were happening, Rick had tried to have the inexperienced members of Alexandria kill walkers on their own. As expected, they needed to be saved by others within the community. 

In the late evening, Gloria was standing on the porch leaning on the railing. Daryl made his way back to their house after meeting with the others to discuss more details on the plan, memorizing the routes he was supposed to take and what to do if things went sideways. He greets her with a nod as he goes up the porch steps.

“Hey.” Gloria greets him with a forced smile.

Daryl notices her expression and gently pulls her into his embrace and kisses her forehead, “ya a’right?”

Gloria sighs but nods, “I’m just worried about the next few days.”

“Ya think somethin’s gon’ go wrong?” he asks, his nose nuzzling into her hair.

“I just don’t know who’s gonna make it back.” Gloria admits, making Daryl frown, “I’m not worried about you or Glenn or anyone from our group… well, okay, I am but I know you can all take care of yourselves out there. But you saw how the others were today, they needed us to save their asses. If they’re like Nicholas, they’re going to get other people hurt or killed.”

Daryl sighs at her words and purses his lips as if he was hiding something from her. His look doesn’t go unnoticed by Gloria as she frowns at his silence. 

“What?” she asks, more worry growing in her heart, “Daryl, I know you’re keeping something from me, what is it?”

“Carter was in the armory, had a gun to Eugene ‘cause he overheard him tryin’ to get the others to kill Rick.” Daryl reveals. 

Gloria gapes at him, taking in his words, “and we’re still going through with the plan with him there? With our people?”

“We need the numbers,” he tells her, but he understands her worry, “we’ll be extra careful ‘round ‘em, watch each other’s backs. We’ll be a’right.”

“What if… what if I went out there with you?” she suggests.

“Nah, no way, you’re stayin’ here,” Daryl shakes his head.

“No, listen, you’ll need an on-site medic in case something does go wrong out there, Denise will be in the infirmary here, she’s good on her own now, and if she isn’t Rosita can help her.” Gloria tries to negotiate.

“Forget it, ya ain’ goin’ out there,” Daryl says, not looking at her.

“How can you expect me to stay back while you’re all out there?” Gloria scoffs.

“How d’ya expect me to lead that herd away an’ not worry ‘bout ya if you’re out there?!” Daryl snaps, finally looking at her, he sighs heavily, “I can’t… I don’t want ya out there with this goin’ on. I gotta know you’re safe here so I got somethin’ to come back to.”

Tears well up in her eyes as she registers his words, she nods, “okay… okay, I’ll stay here, just promise me, you’ll stay safe out there, okay? Daryl, promise me, please…”

“I promise,” he says, looking into her eyes, “I love ya.”

She smiles softly at him, snuggling into his embrace as he wraps his arms around her, “I love you, too.” 

Gloria knew that they needed to do this in order to keep Alexandria safe and Daryl was right about needing the numbers. If they narrowed it down to only people they trusted, they would barely have half the numbers they have now. She could only pray and hope that none of them would do anything stupid and cause anyone from getting hurt.

—

The next morning, Rick, Daryl, and Glenn brought the volunteers out for the dry run. Gloria was at the infirmary with Denise. She is checking the stock in the medicine cabinet while Denise is reading a medical book when the door opens and Tara walks in. All three women greet each other with small smiles.

“How’s your head feeling?” Gloria asks.

“That’s actually why I’m here, my head was hurting so I wanted to get some painkillers before heading up to the watchtowers with Eugene.” Tara explains.

Gloria nods and turns back to the medicine cabinet, getting a bottle of painkillers then tosses it to Tara, “just follow the instructions on the label.”

“Thanks.” Tara smiles then bites her lip before speaking again, “Gloria? Um… I uh…”

“Just spit it out.” she chuckles.

“Are you really okay with Nicholas being alive and going out there with Glenn?” she asks, her voice nervous.

Tara’s question causes Gloria to halt her actions and Denise to look up from her book as she was also curious. 

Gloria sighs, “Nicholas not only got Aiden and Noah killed, but he also tried to kill Glenn. I wasn’t okay with having him inside these walls and I wanted to kill him myself. I never thought that he could change, I thought he’d always be a coward and push responsibility to other people.”

“You don’t think that way about him anymore? You keep… speaking in past tense.” Tara points out.

“He brought Glenn back after shooting him when he could have just left him out there, that still counts as something,” Gloria tells her, “Glenn gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him live, and so far, he seems to be right.”

Tara nods though her face was perplexed. She agreed with what Gloria was saying, she was surprised that Nicholas brought Glenn back too. She trusted Glenn’s intuition but she didn’t trust Nicholas, especially when she knew what he did to Noah.

“I know you’re pissed at him for getting Noah killed,” Gloria says, reading her mind, “you have every right to be, but from what I can see, he’s showing remorse and trying to change.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Glenn’s right. We should give him a chance.” Tara says with a smile, “oh yeah, um, Carol asked me to tell you that she has some cookies to give you?”

“Oh right, thanks. Can you stay here and keep Denise company?” Gloria asks, giving Denise a knowing look. 

“Sure.” Tara nods and smiles over at Denise, making her blush.

Gloria chuckles at Denise’s reaction and thanks Tara before leaving the infirmary. She knew that Denise had a crush on Tara, she didn’t need to tell her to know. The way Denise was so attentive to Tara while giving her stitches was a dead giveaway. Gloria hoped that giving the two a little alone time could help them get closer and blossom into something more. 

Gloria knocks on Carol’s door once she’s up the porch of their house and she’s greeted by her sweet smile, “Sorry, I forgot to grab them this morning.”

Carol chuckles as she hands Gloria a plastic container of cookies, “it’s okay, you have more important things than cookies to worry about.” 

“You think the run’s gonna go okay?” Gloria asks with a slight grimace.

“Well, it’s a dry run so they should be fine, it isn’t anything they won’t be able to deal with.” Carol reassures her.

Gloria sighs softly and nods, “yeah, you’re right.”

“Don’t worry about it too much, just worry about getting those cookies to your sister, I don’t know how picky of a eater she is but it’s best to get them to her while they’re somewhat fresh.” Carol tells her with a smile.

Gloria chuckles at her words and nods, thanking her again for the cookies then makes her way to Gena’s house for the delivery. She knocks on her sister’s door and Gena opens the door shortly with a confused frown as she looks at Gloria. She hands her the container of cookies with a smile.

“What’s this?” Gena asks, tilting her head as she looks at the container.

“Carol told me that she had too many walnuts just sitting in our kitchen and asked if I wanted any cookies. Then I remembered, you love walnuts.” Gloria shrugs.

Gena laughs at her words, “are you trying to make me fat with all this sugar?”

“Who are you even trying to impress?” Gloria rolls her eyes, “Spencer isn’t your type and the others are **way** too old for you.” 

“And how old is Mr. Dixon?” Gena asks with an eyebrow raised.

Gloria stutters and blushes, “t-that’s different.”

Gena chuckles at her reaction. They were both happy that they finally had a good relationship with one another, able to tease the other and not fight every time they’re together. Their moment is interrupted by screams of terror from within the walls. Gloria and Gena snap their heads in the direction of scream and see that a woman, Shelly, had been slashed by an unknown man with a machete. More unfamiliar people wielding blades run down the streets, Gloria notices that they’re all wearing similar clothing. 

“What was that?!” Mindy calls out in a panic, running down the stairs.

Gloria turns around and quickly pushes Gena inside her house, “both of you stay inside and lock your doors, do you have a gun in the house?”

“Yeah, we took one from the armory after we found out about the quarry,” Gena tells her.

“Good, lock the doors and windows, if anyone barges in, shoot them. **Don’t** hesitate,” Gloria tells her as she’s about to leave Gena and Mindy.

“Gloria!” Gena calls as she grabs her arm, holding her back, “you can’t go out there! Not with those people roaming the streets!”

“I have to, I can’t let these people get to the armory or we’re all screwed. I’ll be fine, I promise.” Gloria tells her reassuringly, patting her hand that’s on her arm before turning around and making her way down the porch, trusting Gena to listen to her. 

Just as she turns, the same man who killed Shelly charges towards Gloria with his bloodied machete raised high. She takes note that the man has a ‘W’ painted on his forehead; she remembered that Carol mentioned it to her before, when her, Rick, and Daryl went outside the walls, they found a walker with a ‘W’ marked on its forehead. This group, this ‘W’ group, had found their way to them. 

Gloria hears Gena scream out her name in fear as Gloria quickly takes out one of her daggers to block the machete just in time. She pulls out her other dagger and swiftly slices the man’s throat and kicks him away from her, making him fall to the ground. Gloria proceeds to go to the man and pushes one of her blades into his temple to prevent him from turning. 

She turns back to see both Gena and Mindy in the doorway, “what the hell are you doing?! Lock the damn door!”

As if her words pulled them back from a daydream, Gena hesitantly nods then closes the door to her house. Gloria then rushes towards the armory, but on her way there, she runs into another one of the intruders, a woman with the same kind of ‘W’ marking. The woman lets out a battle cry as she raises her machete to slash Gloria but she swiftly dodges the attack and stabs the woman under her jaw, killing her instantly. A sudden horn blaring near the watchtowers distracts her for a moment as she lets the woman fall onto the ground, giving another member of the ‘W’ group the chance to sneak up on her. He raises his blade to slay Gloria when Carol runs up to him and stabs him in the stomach, causing the man to scream, alerting Gloria. 

She turns around and sees Carol dressed in similar attire to those of the ‘W’ group. When Carol looks at her, they nod at each other and Carol covers her face with her black scarf. She takes the lead to the armory and Gloria follows closely behind as her back up. They’ve been together long enough to know that the other had the same mindset about securing their armory. 

Carol had taken a gun from the body of the man she’d stabbed and used it to shoot at the other intruders as she dashes into the armory. Gloria chases after a woman who had followed Carol into the building, sprinting to her and stabbing her in the back of the head. Carol grabs one of the larger guns and shoots behind Gloria, hitting but not killing another intruder as he runs away. 

“You okay? The guns, all here?” Gloria asks as she walks into the armory, looking around to make sure that the weapons were secure.

“Yeah, looks like everything’s still here.” Carol says, analyzing the same thing. 

The women look at the closet door when they both hear shuffling emitting from the small room. They glance at each other and nod, Gloria prepares her daggers for whoever is inside and Carol opens the door to reveal a terrified and crying Olivia. Gloria lets out a sigh of relief and lowers her blades. 

“You alright?” Gloria asks, worry in her voice.

Olivia sniffles, wiping her face but nods, “I-I’m okay, I’m okay.”

“Do you know how to use one of these?” Carol asks, she then gently pulls her to stand parallel to the door, “Cock the hammer back like this and hold it tight, and when you see anyone you don’t know, squeeze.”

Olivia nods and takes the gun that Carol was holding and stands in position. Gloria and Carol go back outside the armory after making sure that Olivia was alright with defending it.

“I gotta go to the infirmary, check on Denise and see if she’s okay,” Gloria tells her.

Carol nods at that, “okay, go.”

With that, the women split in different directions. Gloria rushes towards the infirmary, and once she steps inside, she sees Denise trying to resuscitate Holly who’s lying on the patient bed. Unfortunately, the single tone of a flatline rings through the room on the heart rate monitor. Denise steps back in defeat, sighing heavily with tears in her eyes. Gloria takes a step forward and puts her hand on Denise’s shoulder making the other doctor look back at her as tears roll down her cheeks.

“I tried…” she whimpers.

Gloria nods and pulls her into a hug, “I know you did, you did your best. It’s not your fault.”

Denise cries in her arms as Gloria strokes her back, doing her best to comfort and soothe her friend. She looks up at Tara and signals her to deal with the body on the bed. Tara purses her lips and nods, taking her knife and plunging it into Holly’s skull, preventing her from turning into a walker. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

It was just supposed to be a dry run, the plan wasn’t supposed to be set in motion until a few days later, but Michonne had come back with Heath and Jacob bearing bad news and an injured Scott. Aaron helped carry him to the infirmary where Gloria patched up his leg, she then left Denise with Jacob to look after him as Gloria went back out to find out what exactly happened on what was supposed to be a dry run. 

“The walkers broke through the quarry, we had to go with the plan.” Michonne tells Maggie, Aaron, and Gloria, “Daryl went with Sasha and Abraham to lead the herd away and everything was going as planned until we heard the horn coming from home. What was that anyway?”

“A group of people somehow got inside the walls, killed a bunch of people, and I guess one of them crashed a truck into the wall making the horn go off.” Gloria tells her.

Michonne frowns at this, “dammit…”

“What about Rick and Glenn?” Maggie asks, worried.

“Rick went to get the RV to redirect the herd, he told us to come back here to figure out what was going on. I was with Glenn and Nicholas when we got to a town that was overrun. He split off with Nicholas, he had this idea that if he lit a fire, it would stop the walkers from coming here.” Michonne explains.

Gloria furrows her brows as she remembers what Rick had done before, “because that’s how we distracted the walkers at the farm…” 

“I tried to go instead…” Michonne sighs, her voice full of remorse, “I wanted to… but the fire never got lit. We had to keep going, I’m sorry. He said if he got stuck, he’d find a way to send us a signal.”

“They’ll be okay, they’ll make it back, they will.” Gloria says, although she wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure Maggie or convince herself.

Maggie tearfully nods, worried for her husband’s safety. Just then, a familiar voice could be heard from outside the gates, calling out to whoever could hear him. 

“Open the gates!” 

Gloria and Michonne rush over to the main gates and push them open, revealing Rick with a large herd of walkers following him. Once they let Rick inside, they hurriedly shut the gates in time to keep the walkers out. The commotion from the walkers snarling and Rick yelling had attracted attention from the other residents of Alexandria. They were trapped within the walls of their own home with an army of walkers just outside. 

“Come on.” Michonne says quietly to Gloria.

The two of them shut the clothed inner gate, blocking the view of walkers trying to claw their way into the community. As most of the residents had never even stepped outside the walls before, many of them were panicking and not knowing what to say or do. 

“I know, and I understand that you’re all scared because you’ve never seen or been through anything like this.” Rick starts his speech to try and boost morale for the scared people of Alexandria, “the others who aren’t back yet, will be. Glenn will be back with Nicholas.”

Rick looks over to Maggie and he nods then looks over to Gloria, “Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha, they will all come back together.” 

“What exactly do you expect us to do?” Tobin asks, his face full of skepticism.

“We keep the sound to an absolute minimum, hopefully the herd will pass when it’s quiet.” Rick suggests. 

“It’s going to be a graveyard…” Francine sighs, her words cause the others to worry even more.

The feeling of doubt in Rick and fear is evident between the people of Alexandria. It was clear that they all blamed Rick for bringing the herd back and for coming up with the plan to lead the herd away. 

“The quarry broke through sooner than we thought it would and that entire herd of walkers would have made their way back here. But Rick stopped that from happening, instead of having the entire herd tear this place apart, we only have half of that now and that is because of Rick.” Aaron steps up in his defense.

He then closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath, “the group that attacked us… I lead them back here. When I was out there with Daryl, he wanted to recruit more people but I… I wanted to scavenge a warehouse. We did what I wanted and we got caught in a trap set by those people. I left my bag behind and that’s how they found this place. I lead them straight here, that’s on me.”

It’s silent save for the groans and moans of the walkers outside the walls. Rick looks at Aaron in gratitude, he knew that he was trying to turn the mood to blame him for things that have happened instead. He pats the other man’s shoulder and nods at him. The crowd begins to disperse, keeping quiet as they all retreat back to their own homes. 

“Gloria,” she hears Jacob call out to her as he walks towards her, “listen, I’m sorry about Glenn, I wanted to go with them but they wouldn’t have me.”

“Are you wondering why?” Gloria raises her eyebrow.

He sighs and shakes his head, “no, no I’m not… I am wondering though… why are there bodies inside the walls, did roamers get in?”

“No, people did,” Gloria tells him, “they got in here somehow and started slaughtering people…”

“What? Are Mindy and Gena okay?” he asks, frantically.

“They’re fine, at least they should be. I told them to stay inside, keep the doors locked until someone comes to get them,” Gloria tells him, “we should go check on them, let Mindy know you’re okay before she passes out.”

Jacob nods at that and the two make their way to Gena’s house. Gloria makes sure to knock on the door and call out to Gena to let her know it’s them. Shortly after, the door opens and Jacob rushes inside to make sure his sister is alright. Gloria walks into the house and closes the door behind her.

Mindy frowns as she sees the cuts and scrapes on his face, “Gloria, are the dangerous men outside gone?”

“Yeah, they’re gone.” Gloria nods. 

“Okay, we’re going to the infirmary,” Mindy says, looking at Jacob, “the last thing we want is for the cuts on your face to get infected, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Jacob sighs and nods, complying with his sister’s words. They make their way to the infirmary, leaving Gena and Gloria alone. 

“Gena,” Gloria calls out to her older sister to catch her attention, “Michonne said that Glenn’s still out there with Nicholas in some town, he wanted to light a fire to distract the herd from coming here.” Gloria says, her jaw tight as she tries to hold herself together.

Gena furrows her brow at her words as she sees right through Gloria, knowing she’s putting up a strong front, she pulls her in for a comforting hug, “Glenn will be fine, and Daryl will be too.”

Gloria smiles tearfully at her as she pulls back from the hug, nodding, “and so will we, we’ll keep this place up so they have a home to come back to.”

Gena nods then opens the container of cookies on the island counter, “cookie?” she asks, offering one to the younger.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to eat them because of all the sugar,” Gloria chuckles as she takes a cookie for herself.

“I might not have long left so I might as well have all the sugar I want.” Gena says, then takes a bite of her cookie, her words make Gloria frown.

“Don’t talk like that,” she scolds then groans when Gena shrugs, “you are so contradictory. One minute you’re telling me that things will be okay, the next you’re talking about not having any time left. What the hell do you actually think?!”

“I think that I’m not gonna make it!” Gena snaps, “I’m surprised I even made it this far. You can fight, Glenn’s fast, of course both of you are gonna make it, but me? I can only fight with my words, that’s why I became a lawyer but what good is that gonna do for me now? What, am I going to just yell at the undead to stop coming at me?!”

Gloria puts down the cookie on the island counter and holds Gena by her shoulders, “look at me. You will make it, okay? It doesn’t matter that you can’t fight or you’re not as fast as Glenn, you’ll make it because we will **all** make it. You’re not alone in this, we got your back. You said I can fight, right? I’ll protect you.”

Gena chuckles softly at her words, “who’s supposed to be the older sister?” 

“It doesn’t matter who’s older or younger, we’re family, and family protect each other no matter what.” Gloria says with a warm smile.

Gena’s eyes well up with tears and she caresses Gloria’s cheeks, breaking into a sob, “what did I do to you? You always had to fend for yourself… I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay,” Gloria says, pulling Gena in for a hug as the older cries in her arms, “if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have lasted this long anyway.”

As Gena tries to stifle her sobs, Gloria’s eyes land on a photo album on the island counter near the container of cookies. She reaches out to slide it towards her and opens it, her movement making Gena pull away from the hug to see what Gloria was doing. She flips to a page in the album with childhood photos of the three siblings. She chuckles when she sees the three of them as children.

“You brought photo albums with you?” Gloria teases.

“Of course, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see my baby brother and sister again so the least I had were these.” Gena admits, looking at the photos.

A sad smile pulls at Gloria’s lips then Gena clears her throat, trying not to break down and cry again. She flips to a specific page in the album and points to a photo.

“That’s my favorite picture of us.” Gena informs her.

It was a photo of them all in formal clothing. Glenn was in a black suit, Gloria in a dark blue dress, and Gena in a red dress. The photo was taken at one of their cousin’s weddings. 

“It’s my favorite because we all look so grown up and happy. I’m also pretty sure it’s the only photo of us all smiling.” Gena explains.

Gloria laughs and nods, “yeah, if you look at all of these it’s either me pouting and crying or Glenn making a weird face at the camera.”

The sisters go through more photo albums for hours, reminiscing over past events captured in the photos. After Mindy and Jacob had returned to the house, Gloria went back to her own to rest as it was getting quite late. She had tried to sleep but no matter how exhausted her body felt, her mind was not allowing her to fall asleep. She’d been tossing and turning in her bed for hours when she decided to get up. Gloria walks into the kitchen and pours herself a glass of water before sitting on a stool at the kitchen island counter. She places the glass in front of her as she props her elbows up on the counter, clasping her hands together to keep herself from fidgeting anxiously. 

Gloria couldn’t help but be worried about Glenn and Daryl, no matter what anyone else told her. It was the fact that she had no idea where they were that worried her the most. A big part of her wished that she went against Daryl’s wishes and gone out with them, at least then she would be with either of them and know what the heck was going on. Now, she was just sitting in the kitchen helplessly, not knowing what else to do. The door opening pulls Gloria out of her thoughts and she forces a smile at Maggie who walks into the house.

“Hey, why aren’t you sleeping?” Maggie asks, stepping towards her, a worried look on her face.

“I don’t think any of us are gonna get any sleep tonight,” Gloria chuckles softly and then she sighs, “how are you holding up?”

“Not great,” Maggie tells her honestly, joining her on one of the other stools at the kitchen island counter, “I almost went out there to find him.”

“Alone?” Gloria furrows her brow in concern.

“I was about to, but Aaron insisted on coming with me,” Maggie tells her, “showed me a way out from the sewers, we were almost out, but I changed my mind…”

“It’s good that you did, Glenn wouldn’t want you out there, not in the middle of this,” Gloria says, holding her hand in reassurance.

Maggie lets out a shaky breath, “I’m pregnant.”

Gloria’s eyes widen at the news then she smiles at her, “congratulations.”

“For what?” Maggie snaps, tears brimming in her eyes, “having a baby who’s father might already be dead?”

“Maggie, you can’t think like that,” Gloria says sternly, “Glenn’s going to be back, I know he will.”

“How can you be so sure?” Maggie asks as she tries to keep herself from crying.

“It’s Glenn. He’s not going to let you go through this alone, he’ll be back and he’ll take care of you. I **know** him, he’s going to do everything he can to get back to you and your baby,” Gloria gives her hand a light squeeze to comfort her.

A small smile tugs at Maggie’s lips and she smiles tearfully at Gloria, nodding, “you’re right, that’s how Glenn is…” 

“Yeah,” Gloria smiles in agreement, then she lets out a breath.

“Hey,” Maggie calls out, making the other look at her, “Daryl’s gonna be back too.”

Gloria nods at that, “our boys will be back, they will be.” 

—

In the morning, Gloria goes out to check on the others. She mainly wanted to see if Glenn or Daryl had come back, but unfortunately they were still outside the walls. Her first stop was the infirmary to check up on Scott.

“How’s it going?” Gloria asks, she glances at Scott who’s still asleep on the patient bed.

“He had an infection and was burning up last night.” Denise informs.

Gloria looks at her and frowns, “why didn’t you come find me?” 

“I know I should have, but I wanted to try first… I wanted to try and figure it out on my own in case I couldn’t find you. I couldn’t let what happened to Holly stop me from trying.” Denise says.

Her words make Gloria smile proudly and she nods, “since his heart rate is normal, I’m gonna take an educated guess that you managed to figure it out?”

“Yep, I did,” Denise grins, “I injected his wound with saline and extracted the pus from it. Once I did, his heart rate stabilized.”

Gloria pats Denise’s shoulder, “you’ve officially been promoted to a doctor.” 

Denise giggles then bites her lip, blush creeping on her face, “I um…” 

“Yes?” she raises an eyebrow in question.

“I… kinda kissed Tara yesterday after figuring things out.” Denise admits shyly.

“And you kept on denying that you didn’t like her.” Gloria calls her out, laughing.

Denise rolls her eyes jokingly at her teasing but laughs with her anyway. A knock on the infirmary door interrupts their chat as they both turn and see Morgan. The two women greet the man who in turn smiles at them.

“I uh… I was hoping to speak with Denise alone. I heard she was a psychiatrist before and I have uh… some issues I wanted to work out.” Morgan says sheepishly.

Gloria smiles understanding and nods, “he’s all yours, Dr. Cloyd.”

Denise beams at her new title, grinning shyly as she bids farewell to Gloria who leaves the two in the infirmary. She goes on to find Maggie who was on the platform keeping watch. She climbs up to meet her sister-in-law and stands beside her, looking out into the herd of walkers just outside the walls. 

“Have you seen any signs?” Gloria asks her.

Maggie shakes her head, “no… just walkers.”

Gloria nods and sighs. They were both worried for Glenn, it wasn’t that they didn’t think he could handle himself, it was more so of the fact that he was out there with Nicholas. What if he hadn’t changed and tried to kill Glenn again, they would never know. Emotion overcomes Maggie as her eyes well up in tears, she looks down and sniffles, doing her best to stop herself from crying. Gloria looks at her sympathetically and holds her shoulder firm for reassurance. 

“I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday…” Maggie sighs deeply, “I shouldn’t have said what I said about Glenn being dead…”

“It’s okay…” Gloria pauses then chuckles, “are you gonna snap at me if I say that I blamed your hormones?”

Maggie eyes her playfully then finally breaks into a smile, “no, I’ll just push you off this ledge.”

The two of them laugh lightly as they look out into the distance. Both of their expressions change as something in the distance catches their eyes. A bundle of green balloons were floating up into the sky. It dawns on both of them that this was the sign they were waiting for, Glenn was alive and this was his signal. 

“We gotta tell Rick.” Maggie says, rushing down the ladder.

“Hey, be careful.” Gloria calls out as she quickly follows her down. 

“Rick! Rick!” Maggie calls out as she runs towards the sheriff, “that’s Glenn.”

He was also looking up at the sky, his eyes on the bundle of bright green balloons. Rick glances at her and nods with a small smile. His smile is short lived though as they all hear a thundering crack of wood along the wall. The watchtower begins to sway just before it leans into the wall and crashes down, taking the metal walls with it. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The watchtower tumbled down, crashing into the metal walls, allowing the herd a passage into the community of Alexandria. Gloria pulls out her daggers from her belt in defence, ushering all and any helpless resident of the town back into the safety of their homes. Maggie does the same, helping up people who had fallen from the crash and getting them to safety. Rick pulls out his Colt Python and shoots at the walkers that had already made their way into the community.

“Get back into your houses!” he shouts as he continues to shoot the walkers, backing up as the herd invades Alexandria. 

Gloria distracts the walkers from people who were trying to run back inside their houses, calling to them so they would only pay attention to her and kill the ones that got too close to her. She swears under her breath when the walkers begin to surround her. Gloria looks around to find a possible opening and rushes towards that side, killing the walkers in her path to get free. 

“Gloria!” 

She spins around at the sound of her sister’s voice, panicking when she sees Gena standing outside her house with walkers closing in on her. 

“Get back inside!” Gloria shouts, dashing towards Gena and stabbing a walker that had almost reached her, “please, just go!” 

Before Gena could respond, she sees a walker coming up from behind Gloria. She lets out a battle cry and lunges towards the walker, tackling it to the ground before it could bite Gloria. The walker grabs onto Gena, dragging her down with it.

“No!” Gloria screams.

“Gena!” she hears Mindy screaming from her porch then multiple gunshots, Jacob was trying to clear their path.

Gloria rushes towards Gena and plunges her dagger into the head of the walker. She helps Gena up to her feet and pulls her towards her house. 

“Come on! Go go!” Jacob ushers all of them inside, but he was unable to close the door. 

The herd of walkers are on their tail as they all run into the guest room on the lower floor of the house. Once they’re inside the room, Jacob shuts the door, locking it from the inside. They breathe heavily from the shock of it all. Gloria leans on the wall as she catches her breath while Gena goes to sit on the ottoman in her guestroom with Mindy on the other side and Jacob crouches down beside the door.

“You okay?” Gloria asks as she looks up at her sister, “there’s blood on your shirt.”

“I’m fine, it’s probably just blood from the roamer.” Gena nods, a weak smile on her lips.

“Are you sure?” Mindy asks, a worried look on her face when she sees her best friend.

Gloria pushes herself off the door and makes her way over to Gena, “let me check, just in case.”

“No.” Gena says defensively, “I think I would know if I’m hurt.”

Gloria frowns at her persistence but sighs, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get through to her; stubbornness runs in the family it seems. She looks over to the glass windows as walkers thud and tap on the glass, trying to get to them. She sighs again and goes over to the window, pulling the curtain closed so that the walkers wouldn’t see them. 

“If we keep quiet for long enough, we might be able to wait it out.” Gloria says in a whisper as she sits on the guest bed. 

The four of them wait in the room for hours but the noise from outside doesn’t die down. Gloria continuously peeks outside from behind the curtains, only to be met with the same few walkers. She groans lowly, annoyed at the sight then sighs as she thinks about the others.

“I hope Maggie’s okay…” she says softly, she then smiles, “we’re gonna be aunties in a few months.”

Gena chuckles breathlessly and leans back, groaning in pain as she does. The other three frown at this and Gloria looks over at her with a worried expression.

“Seriously, let me take a look at your wound.” Gloria says, although she knows the answer she’s going to receive.

“What wound? I told you, I’m fine.” Gena insists.

“Gena, you can’t be stubborn with this, it could be really serious,” Jacob tells her.

“This is the first and probably last time I say this, but I have to agree with Jacob, if you’re hurt, you gotta tell me. I can help you.” Gloria tells her, still trying to keep her voice low.

Gena’s about to say something else in response when they hear a single gunshot from outside. Gloria turns to the window again and peeks out from the curtain. To her horror, she sees Jessie and her two sons, Sam and Ron, being devoured by walkers. Rick was carrying an unconscious Carl in his arms as Michonne follows behind them, killing off any walkers that get too close to the father and son.

“What is it?” Mindy asks.

“Carl… Carl’s hurt.. I gotta get to them.” Gloria says to herself. 

She then gets up from the bed and takes the bedsheet off, tearing it in half and wrapping the halves around her arms. 

“What are you doing?” Gena asks, her voice breathy.

“I’m getting us out of here. Jacob, how many bullets do you have left?” she glances at him.

“Clip and a half,” Jacob tells her.

“Okay, make each shot count, you cover me while I clear the way and Mindy’s gonna bring Gena to the infirmary. Denise can treat the wound Gena’s so insistent on not having and while I help Carl.” Gloria instructs.

She tightly wraps the fabric around her arms, thinking that even if she got bit, it was possible that she wouldn’t die from it if there was enough of a barrier from the walker’s fluids. 

“Gloria, no. I’ll stay back and get you all out of here.” Gena says, her voice calm.

“Gena, no, we’re not leaving you behind,” Mindy says. 

“That’s **not** an option,” Jacob persists, speaking the same time as Mindy.

Gloria was about to retort as well but once she looks up and sees Gena’s complexion, she freezes. Gena was drenched in sweat, her face was pale and clammy. The sight reminded her of how Jim looked when he got bit and it finally dawned on her why Gena was so hesitant to show her the injury. Gloria’s silence and fearful expression catch Jacob and Mindy’s attention and they finally look at Gena, blood draining from their faces at the realization. 

Gloria shakes her head and whimpers, “No… no, you can’t…”

Gena smiles sadly and gets up from her seat, groaning in pain at the movement. She makes her way to Gloria as the younger chokes out a sob.

“L-let me see. Maybe… maybe it isn’t what you think it is.” Gloria tries to convince her.

“I know what it is.” Gena tells her. 

Gloria whimpers, “No, I-I can help. I can fix it! I’m a nurse, remember? I can help you!”

“I know what it is.” she reiterates, pulling down the collar of her shirt to reveal the unmistakable bite mark on her collar.

No longer able to hold in her tears at the sight of the bite, Gloria squeezes her eyes shut, letting out a pained whimper. Mindy chokes out a sob at the sight of her wound and Jacob lets out a heavy sigh, none of them wanting to accept it. Gena lets her tears fall as she caresses Gloria’s face, a weak smile on her face.

Guilt builds up in her heart as Gloria recalls the moment Gena got bit, “why the hell did you pull that walker down?! I had it handled! You didn’t even have a weapon! Why did you do that?!”

“I had to… I told you I didn’t have long left.” she says in a soft whisper.

“No! I told you not to say shit like that!” Gloria cries, looking at Gena.

“Even when I’m about to die, you’re still talking back to me.” Gena chuckles breathily, “Gloria, you gotta let me do what I’ve never done before as your older sister.”

“What?” Gloria manages to choke out.

“I’ll push the walkers away so you three can get out of here, you have to get to Carl, help the others. I’m going to make sure you get out of here.” Gena lets out a shaky breath, “I’m going to protect you for the first and last time.”

“I can’t! I can’t just leave you!” Gloria cries, shaking her head.

Gena cups her face with her hands to make Gloria look at her, “ **Yes** , you can. You’re going to live and you’re going to build this place up to something even bigger. You’ll save everyone here, I believe in you.” 

She then turns to look at Mindy and Jacob, gently grabbing her best friend’s hand, “Glenn and Gloria are my family, but you two are my family too, you know that, right? You’re my family and I love you.”

Mindy nods sadly, sobbing as she turns around to her brother, not being able to bear the sight of Gena in her pale state. Gloria clings to Gena tightly, sobbing. Why did it have to be like this? She just got her sister back and now she was going to lose her and there was nothing she could do to save her. 

“ _Older sister_ …” Gloria whimpers the endearment in Korean. 

Gena gently pulls away from the hug and gives her a soft smile, “ _Older sister’s got this_.”

The sisters turn to face the door, Gena’s hand on the doorknob ready to open it, Jacob and Mindy tearfully prepare themselves to push through the herd as well. Gloria stops her from opening the door by placing her hand on Gena’s, mouthing the words ‘hang on’. She turns around and goes to the window, taking off the curtain rod from the top of the window. She peels off the curtain and hands the rod to Gena.

“Block them off with this, it’ll make it easier.” Gloria says, her voice full of emotion.

Gena takes the rod from Gloria, “listen, whatever happens, no matter what you hear… don’t look back. I can’t have your last image of me being ripped apart by these undead assholes.”

Gloria purses her lips and nods. Gena glances at the three, silently telling them that she’s about to open the door. With a single twist of the handle, she flings the door open and blocks off the walkers from coming into the room with the curtain rod. Gena lets out a battle cry as she uses her entire body to push the walkers back in order to make an opening. Jacob is the first one out, pulling his sister along behind him as he clears out the walkers in front of him. Gloria stabs at the walkers that are about to push through and over power Gena.

“Go! Get out of here!” Gena shouts at her.

Gloria lets out a sob as she takes one last look at Gena then bolts out of the guest room. She has to stop herself from turning around when she hears Gena’s pained screams. 

“I’m sorry…” she whispers, then she runs out of the house without looking back.

When she gets outside, there is still a large herd between her and the infirmary but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from getting there. She grips both of her daggers tight and kills her way towards the infirmary with Jacob and Mindy. She finds Rick in the midst of the walkers, swinging a hatchet and killing as many as he can. Gloria makes sure the two get to the infirmary before going over to Rick and he looks towards her, they share a nod and continue killing off the walkers. There were way too many walkers around Rick and if she left him alone to fend them off, he could die. She looks towards the infirmary and sees Denise already working on Carl through the window. 

“You got this, Denise.” she says in a whisper, fully knowing that Denise wouldn’t be able to hear her.

As Gloria stabs a walker, another one comes close to her. She tries to take her dagger out from the walker she had just stabbed but it was stuck in its skull. Suddenly, a machete slices through the skull of the walker approaching her, falling dead to the ground. Aaron yanks the machete out of the walker and nods at her. Gloria nods back at him then finally is able to pull out her dagger from the skull. They were joined by Michonne as well as Jacob and Heath in their battle against the herd of walkers. 

“We can beat this!” Rick shouts as a boost of morale.

It seems that seeing Rick and the others fight to protect the community motivated the others to come out of their houses and join the fight. As the members of Alexandria fought off the walkers, sudden rapid gunfire was heard within the walls but there was no time to find out where it was coming from. Not long after, a bright light seemingly coming from the lake in the middle of Alexandria ignites, distracting half the herd into the burning waters.

Gloria looks in the direction of the lake, her brows furrowing together when she sees a figure standing on top of a truck nearby. She lets out a soft chuckle when she recognizes the silhouette of Daryl; he seemed to be armed with some sort of rocket launcher.

“Of course you would,” she says to herself.

“Don’t let up!” Rick shouts to everyone, pulling anyone back from getting too distracted by the flames.

All of the people in Alexandria were united with one goal in mind: to protect their home. They continue to swing, slash, and stab until every last walker within their walls is dead. 

—

At dawn, the streets of Alexandria were littered with dozens upon dozens of walker bodies. Gloria was in the infirmary checking on Carl. Denise had let her know that she was able to stabilize him from his close range gunshot wound. A sense of pride welled within Gloria as Denise was really showing how talented she was as a doctor. Denise then went around to make sure the others were alright and Gloria leaves Rick with Carl after making sure he was okay. As she walks out of the room, Daryl walks into the infirmary. 

“Daryl…” she says in barely a whisper.

They lock eyes and within a second, Gloria’s in his arms, holding him tight. She lets out a deep sigh of relief, as she was tending to the wounds of others, she wasn’t able to check up on him to make sure he was okay until now. Daryl wraps his right arm around her, holding her close to him as he gently kisses the top of her head. 

“Ya a’right?” he asks. 

“Yeah… I think so…” Gloria sighs, she pulls back and looks up at him, “what about you? Are you hurt?”

Daryl shrugs, gesturing his left arm out, “just a few scratches.”

“Let me see.” she says, gently turning his arm to check his injuries and she frowns once she sees all the blood, “you call this ‘just a few scratches’? Daryl, you have a serious case of road rash, you know that?”

He nods, looking down and biting his lips together. Gloria sighs and ushers him to sit on one of the patient beds. She begins to clean off his wound with a gauze dampened with alcohol. She’s careful and gentle with the injury as she notices Daryl doing his best not to wince or show that he’s in pain. 

“I was worried about you…” Gloria decides to try and distract him from the pain by talking to him, “Michonne told us what happened with the quarry, that you all had to go through with the plan without a dry run…” 

“The truck fell.” Daryl tells her, “the one that was s’pposed to hold the herd off, ‘t fell into the quarry, made an openin’, didn’ have much choice.”

“I know.” Gloria says, she grabs a bandage from her table and starts to wrap up his elbow, “you guys did what you had to do to protect this place, to protect us.”

He nods at her words, waiting for her to finish patching up his elbow. She was about to tell him that he’s good to go when she finds a hole in his vest with blood seeping out from it; she frowns at the sight.

“Daryl, did you get stabbed…?” Gloria asks, although she was sure she already knew the answer.

“Jus’ a cut…” Daryl says, biting his thumbnail.

She shoots him a disapproving look before helping him take off his vest and shirt, “why do you not tell me when you have more serious injuries, you have to make me find them myself? Seriously?”

“Sorry… jus’ didn’ wanna worry ya,” Daryl says, he tries to hold back a wince as Gloria starts to stitch up the wound.

“So… you upgraded,” she starts, again trying to distract him from the pain, “a rocket launcher?”

Daryl scoffs, “Abe found it.”

“You look good with it,” Gloria says with a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Ya say tha’ ‘bout every weapon I use,” Daryl teases.

“With these arms? Yeah, of course I do, I’d be lying if I said otherwise.” she teases back making him scoff playfully at her, she then gently pats his shoulder as she’s finished patching up his wound, “I want you to tell me the truth, do you have any more injuries I should know about?” 

He turns to look at her as he puts his shirt back on and shakes his head, “nah, promise.”

Gloria smiles stiffly at him and Daryl is able to see right through that; something wasn’t right, like something was eating at the back of her mind. He watches her as she cleans up her station before she lets out a breath.

“We should see if the others need our help with cleaning up the bodies.” Gloria says, then she turns to walk away but Daryl grabs her arm to hold her back.

“Ya sure you’re a’right? Ya hurt?” he asks, his voice gentle.

Gloria sniffles but shakes her head to answer his last question, “I’m fine… we should go help the others.” 

Daryl decides to give in, nodding then following her out of the infirmary. People are carrying the bodies of walkers away, either to the graveyard or to the trucks where they can dump the bodies outside the walls and burn. Gloria heads purposefully towards Gena’s house. She needed to find Gena’s body, she had to. She needed to be the one to put her down. It had been in the back of her mind since she left Gena back at her house and guilt continued to eat at her heart. 

A figure in front of Gena’s house makes Gloria stop in her tracks, her breath hitches as she recognizes the figure; Gena. Tears well up in her eyes as the walker in front of her snarls at her, it starts to walk towards her. Daryl frowns as he realizes who the walker is, he glances at Gloria then starts to head towards the walker but Gloria stops him, putting her hand on his arm.

“No…” she lets out a shaky breath, “I have to… it has to be me… it’s gotta be me…” 

Daryl is reluctant but he nods, letting Gloria step towards the walker that used to be her sister. Tears roll down Gloria’s face as she walks towards it, her hand pulls out one of her daggers from its sheath. The walker reaches out towards Gloria, growling as it tries to grab her. Gloria holds it away from her with her free hand, choking out a sob as she wrestles the walker. Daryl is close on standby, watching the walker’s every move and ready to kill it in case Gloria isn’t able to handle it. He knew she wanted to be the one to do it, but she’d never put down someone who was family before, he was worried she wouldn’t be able to.

Down the street, Glenn was helping Meggie clear out a bunch of the bodies littering the street. He’s making his way back to the infirmary when the sight of Gloria fighting a walker catches his eye. 

“No…” he whispers when he realizes who that walker is.

Glenn runs towards the two with Maggie following behind him. He has his knife in his hand and grabs hold of the walker, pulling it away from Gloria.

“I got her.” he tells her, tears in his eyes. 

Glenn sinks the knife into the back of the walker’s head, letting it fall on him as he drops to his knees. Gloria falls as well as her legs give way, losing control of her emotions and she cries heavily. Glenn wraps his arms around Gloria, holding her close as they sob together for the loss of their older sister. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The streets of Alexandria were finally cleaned of bodies, although blood still stained the streets. Rick figured that the rain would be able to wash it off with time as he didn’t want to spare resources or water. He had also made it a priority to bury their dead, allowing Gabriel to perform a funeral for their fallen. The others dispersed to their own homes after the mass funeral. Glenn had Maggie head back first as none of them had slept well for the last few days. Daryl pats Gloria’s shoulder before leaving her with Glenn, he knew she wanted some time alone with Glenn at Gena’s grave so he had to give her that. 

“Glenn… I’m sorry…” Gloria whispers, her eyes wet with tears, “I should have been the one to do it… I’m sorry…”

Glenn stands beside her and frowns, “why do you think you should have been the one to put her down?”

“You were closer with her… I didn’t want to have to put that on you…” Gloria admits, even though her and Gena had been getting along fine in the recent days, Glenn and Gena had always had a good relationship even before the end of the world.

“You don’t have to put that on yourself either,” Glenn puts his arm around Gloria’s shoulders and wraps her in a hug.

“I’m sorry…” she whimpers, “we lost her because of me…” 

Glenn sighs, “don’t start this, Gloria… it wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m not just putting the blame on myself… this time it’s true… Gena tried to save me and that’s why… that’s how she got bit.” Gloria tells him, tears streaming down her face. 

“You would have done the same for her, I know you would have.” Glenn says, putting his hands on her shoulders to make her look at him, “you know you wouldn’t blame Gena if it were you. And Gena wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for her death either, you gotta know that.”

Gloria sniffles and nods, she looks at the ground, “Gena… and I… we were just starting to get along…”

Glenn smiles sadly at that, “I know… before Rick mentioned the herd in the quarry, I wanted to set up a dinner or something. I was thinking we’d finally have a proper family dinner without it ending in a war between you two.” 

Gloria chuckles softly at his words but then sighs, “she would have liked that…” 

He hums in agreement and the siblings look longingly at their eldest sister’s grave. Gloria reaches her hand into her pocket and pulls out a photo.

“Gena said this was her favorite picture of us.” Gloria says, showing Glenn the photo.

Glenn grimaces at it, “ugh, I look so fat in that.” 

Gloria chuckles and then leans down to put the photo on Gena’s grave as a grave marker but Glenn gently grabs her arm to stop her.

“Keep it with you, if it rains it’ll get ruined.” he reminds her.

Gloria nods and looks down at the photo once more before putting it back in her pocket. Glenn then takes out a necklace with a letter G pendant strung on it and hangs it on the cross marking the grave. Gloria smiles sadly, her hand reaching up to her own necklace. Glenn looks at her and pats her back in comfort. 

—

It was quiet back at the house as she sat on her bed in her and Daryl’s shared bedroom looking down at the photo of her, Glenn, and Gena in her lap. She lets out a sigh and puts the photo on the night stand beside the bed, flipping the photo to its blank side. She leans forward, her elbows leaning on her knees as her hands cover her face, she closes her eyes. Gloria doesn’t even react when she hears footsteps entering the room. She does notice though, that whoever had entered her room hadn’t moved from their spot.

“You know… just because you aren’t moving or talking doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re there,” she says, then she removes her hands from her face, looking up to see Daryl who’s standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Sorry…” he mutters just before he turns to leave.

“Where are you going?” Gloria’s quick to stop him from leaving.

Daryl hesitantly glances at her, “I should give ya some space.”

“Daryl…” she sighs, “you’ve been avoiding me all day, I’ve had enough of this space.” 

He looks down to the ground at her words. He didn’t purposely want to avoid her, he just didn’t know what to do. He thought she’d want to be alone, have some time to herself rather than be bothered by him. 

“You’re mean, Daryl…” Gloria says in a weak voice, her words and the sound of her voice make him look up at her, “you’ve been avoiding me when I need you the most.”

Daryl immediately strides up to her at that, kneeling down and wrapping his arms around her tightly. He holds her close as he repeatedly whispers the words ‘I’m sorry’ into her hair. He felt bad about avoiding her, but he wasn’t sure how she handled death. He knew that for himself he would want space. He thought back to when he lost Merle. Gloria had given him the space he needed and went to find him even after he pushed everyone else away. She was there for him and didn’t let him push her away. He felt guilty now that he thought about it. He should have been there for her, ask her what she needed instead of deciding on it himself.

Gloria wraps her arms around him and snuggles into his embrace. She hides her face in his chest, basking in his warmth. She knew Daryl wasn’t good with words, she knew that from the very beginning but she never minded. All she wanted, all she needed, was for him to be by her side, holding her and comforting her with his presence. 

“I hate this… just when me and Gena start getting along after years of fighting… after years of thinking we hated each other…” Gloria chokes out a sob, her body slightly shaking as she begins to cry, “it’s not fair! Just when I actually have a relationship with my sister she gets taken away from me… all I ever wanted was for her to show me that she actually cared about me… and once she does, she gets bit….”

Daryl rubs her back soothingly as he listens to her rant, letting her release her emotions. He’d never been one with words, never knowing what to say to comfort somebody. From the first time he found her crying back at the C.D.C. to now, he’d never learned the skill of comforting words. Although, he did find that physical comfort was a thing that worked with Gloria quite well. As he listens to her and holds her close, her sobs lessened to small sniffles. 

He kisses the top of her head, “talked to Glenn ‘fore outside. Do ya still…”

“I’m trying not to.” she whispers, knowing he wanted to ask if she blamed herself for Gena’s death.

Daryl lets out a small sigh, knowing that there was nothing he could say to convince her otherwise. He tightens his hold on her, the only way he really knew could reassure her and help her feel better, to tell her non-verbally that it was never her fault.

—

Over the course of the next few days, Gloria and Glenn were slowly easing into things at Alexandria. Pacing themselves and getting used to the flow of things again. The siblings both noticed that Jacob and Mindy seemed to be shutting themselves off from everyone else, staying inside their house that they had shared with Gena. They figured that they needed time and space to mourn, and Gloria decided that she would go and check on them after the next few days. 

Though their community was putting itself back together, Gloria felt that Daryl had begun to distance himself. Although she wasn’t even sure herself whether it was because she had pushed him away when she was mourning Gena, or if something happened when he was leading the herd of walkers away. 

“Hey.” she calls out to him when she finds him on the porch.

Daryl was fidgeting with one of his spare arrows. He looks up to her and nods as a greeting. Gloria makes her way to sit down beside him on the porch, the two sit there in silence. She looks at his hands and reaches out to him, holding his hand. He stops fidgeting with the arrow and looks over at her, his features unreadable. 

“Are you okay? I noticed that you’ve grown kinda distant lately,” she jumps straight to the point.

Daryl sighs and shakes his head in denial, “I haven’t.”

“Then… it was me who pushed you away?” Gloria purses her lips.

“Nah.” Daryl says almost immediately, “ya didn’.”

“Then what is it?” Gloria shifts her body so that she’s facing him, “something happened out there, didn’t it?”

Daryl looks away from her, avoiding her gaze. Of course she could tell something happened outside the walls, if anyone in their group could read him, it would be her. She was just that attentive to detail. 

“I know something’s bothering you, I just want to help. I want to be there for you just like you’ve always been there for me.” Gloria sighs before continuing, “I… noticed that you didn’t come back with your bike or crossbow…”

He sighs, closing his eyes and nodding. She had hit it right on the dot and with how he was acting, she knew she did too. Gloria leans in and kisses his cheek before positioning herself beside him, hugging his arm to her chest. She presses a gentle kiss on his bare shoulder.

“You don’t have to talk, no matter what, I’m here for you,” she reassures him.

The two sit together, peacefully on the porch while listening to the crickets chirping away in the bushes. 

“I was gonna come back,” Daryl starts, “Rick said there was somethin’ happenin’ back here, an’ I wanted to leave the herd with Abraham and Sasha… I didn’ know what to do… I was… scared… I was scared I’d come back to nothin’… or with ya gone…”

Daryl’s confession surprised Gloria, he was never the type to admit that he was scared or afraid. He’d always put on a strong front to hide behind, so just knowing that he was pouring his heart out to her the way he was proved even more that he trusted her with every fibre of his being.

“So I left… I left Abe and Sasha with the herd… but then… then I thought about how much worse it could get if the herd broke off and got back here ‘cause I left ‘em…” he sighs.

“You turned back for them.” Gloria says, finishing his story with a proud smile on her lips.

Daryl nods, “on our way back, after the herd was gone, some pricks shot at us, crashed my bike in some burnt forest.” 

“That explains your road rash.” Gloria presses another kiss to his shoulder. 

He hums, confirming, “I ran into some people. They knocked me out and tied me up, were gonna take my shit if one of ‘em didn’t get weak from low blood sugar or somethin’ like that.” 

Gloria furrows her brows in confusion and looks at him, “are you just making that up? How do you know one of them had low blood sugar?”

“Girl passed out in the middle o’ the forest, gave me a chance to take their shit and I got away, but all they had was insulin in their bag.” he tells her.

“So you went back to find them and gave it back?” Gloria couldn’t help but smile, how lucky was she that this amazing, kind-hearted man was hers?

Daryl nods, “they were runnin’ from some people, I tried helpin’ ‘em, we got away. But one of ‘em died, the girl who needed the insulin. Fell, got bit… I tried askin’ the other two if they wanted to come back with me… at first they were gonna come with… but after I showed ‘em my bike, asshole pulled his gun on me… took my bike, crossbow, everythin’…”

“Wait.” Gloria says, sitting up, Daryl watches her expression change completely, “wait, wait wait… so you’re telling me… you not only went back to these selfish assholes to give them back medicine, you **saved** them from whoever the hell they were running from, and they thank you by **stealing** everything from you?”

Daryl nods, “yeah…”

“Fucking assholes! I’m gonna kill them!” Gloria exclaims angrily.

He chuckles at her outrage, “they’re prolly long gone by now.” 

“Then I’ll track them down and kill them, if that’s what it takes.” she retorts.

Daryl raises his hand and gently strokes her back soothingly, wanting to calm her down. Gloria huffs with a pout.

“How dare they do that to you…” she looks at him, “you’re such a good man… you’re sweet, kind, gentle…” 

He blushes at her words then shrugs, “maybe Aaron was jus’ wrong about me…”

Gloria frowns, confused, “what do you mean?”

“Aaron said that I’m able to tell the difference between a good guy an’ a bad guy… I believed him at first… I wanted to… but now I’m not so sure.” he confesses.

She sighs and sits up, “Daryl, look at me. I trust your judgement more than anyone, more than Rick, even more than Glenn. You see people for who they are.”

“Then why couldn’ I see what pieces o’ shit those people were?!” he interrupts her, his voice harsher than he had intended it to be.

His harshness doesn’t affect her, instead she caresses his face. He subconsciously leans into her touch. She knows that he was lashing out at himself rather than her. 

“You saw what those people used to be before the world turned to shit,“ Gloria starts, “before they were forced to become bad people due to their own circumstances, you only saw what they used to be, that doesn’t make you wrong.”

Daryl looks at her, contemplating her words. He remembers back to when he was held at gunpoint by the guy who called himself ‘D’, him and the woman both told him that they were sorry. And come to think of it, they did sound sincere, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to beat their asses. 

“They apologized just ‘fore they took off with my stuff.” Daryl reveals.

“Well… just because they apologized doesn’t mean I’m not gonna kick the shit of them for what they did if I ever see them.” Gloria says causing Daryl to snort out a laugh.

Gloria smiles when she hears his laughter, it was a rare but beautiful sound. Daryl pulls her into his embrace and kisses her forehead.

“Don’t let Glenn hear ya talkin’ like that, he’s gonna wanna kill me for bein’ a bad influence on ya.” Daryl teases.

She rolls her eyes, “please, he’s gonna have to get through me first before he can lay a finger on you.” 

He laughs again, a hearty chuckle before he caresses her cheek with his knuckles, “thank you.” 

“For being a bodyguard from my brother?” Gloria jokes.

“For everythin’,” he leans in and kisses her lovingly on the lips. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

After taking some time off, Gloria was finally back in the infirmary for her shift with Denise and Rosita. She was more than grateful to the two of them for being understanding and letting her take as much time as she needed after losing her sister. The three of them were going through inventory again as they had used up a lot of their medical resources because of the attack and herd that made it into the walls. Rosita had the idea to make up a list of items they were short on so that whoever was to go on a run could keep an eye out for them. 

“We seem to be good on painkillers, and the gauze and bandages might last us another month or so…” Denise says.

“That is unless there’s another herd or we’re attacked again,” Rosita sighs.

“We’ll be fine, we have people on watch at all times now and we’re fortifying the walls,” Gloria reassures the two.

The two nod at her words, agreeing and hoping that she’s right. Just then, the door to the infirmary opens and Jacob steps in, greeting the three women with a nod. 

“Hey Jacob, what’s up?” Denise says with a smile.

“I uh…” Jacob hesitates then sighs, “I need some advice… Mindy’s not… doing very well.”

“How so?” Rosita asks, crossing her arms as she casually leans on the wall.

“She hasn’t been sleeping, barely eating, barely talking to anyone… barely doing anything actually. She’s just… sitting in her room doing… nothing… I don’t know how to help her.” Jacob sighs.

“Is she responsive?” Denise asks.

“Kinda… I mean, if I ask her if she’s hungry, she just says no but that’s it, nothing else… nothing like she used to be.” he tells them.

“And she hasn’t said anything about what happened with the herd or the attack?” Denise asks, then continues when she sees Jacob nod, “she needs to let her emotions out, try talking to her-”

“You really think I haven’t tried that?” Jacob says, frustrated, “she doesn’t say anything… she avoids talking to me about what happened with… with Gena…”

Gloria furrows her brow at his words and sighs, pushing herself up from the patient bed she was sitting on, “go home, I’ll visit her later and check up on her.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rosita asks, “I mean, no offense but I can’t help but notice that you and Mindy aren’t exactly on good terms, she’s gonna lash out at you if you go rather than me or Denise.”

“That’s exactly why it has to be me,” Gloria says, “she’s not saying anything to Jacob because she loves him and she’s never lashed out at him and the last thing Mindy ever wants is him to see her upset. She’s never had a problem voicing out how much she doesn’t like me or how much of a little shit I am.” 

“Gloria…” Jacob says, a soft smile on his face.

“I’m not doing this for you, don’t get the wrong idea,” she’s quick to shut him down, “I’m doing this for Gena. So go home, start prepping dinner for her or something and I’ll come by in a bit.”

Jacob nods in acceptance and bids farewell to the women. As Gloria had said, she had left the infirmary after they had finished the inventory and headed over to Gena’s old house. She had to take a few breaths as she approached the steps on the porch; the last time she was near this house, she had failed to put down Gena. Gloria carefully walks up the steps of the porch and knocks on the door to the house, mentally preparing herself for the conversation that was to come. Shortly, the door opens and Jacob greets her with a small smile and lets her inside.

“Is she still in her room?” Gloria asks, pointing up the stairs.

“Yeah, it’s the first door on the left.” Jacob informs, “thanks for doing this.”

“Don’t thank me yet, I’m not even sure letting her yell at me is going to help at all,” Gloria says, then she makes her way up the stairs to Mindy’s room.

The door to the room is left slightly ajar as Gloria knocks lightly before gently pushing the door open, “Mindy?”

Gloria steps into the room to see Mindy sitting on her bed, a frown on her face as she looks at her, “what do you want?”

“I just… I wanted to check up on you, Jacob said you aren’t doing very well,” Gloria answers truthfully.

“Well, I’m fine, thanks for your concern.” Mindy says, her tone anything but gentle. 

Gloria sighs but nods, expecting this, “Jacob says you haven’t been eating or sleeping, I don’t see how that makes you fine.”

“I’m alive! That should be good enough… Why the hell do you care about how I’m doing anyway?” Mindy snaps. 

“Because… Gena would care. She would never want to see you like this.” Gloria says softly.

“Don’t you dare bring her up… not you…” Mindy seethes as tears well up in her eyes, “you never cared about how she felt when she was alive, how dare you try to pretend that you do now that she’s dead! You never treated her like your sister!”

“I cared… I did care about her… but I know that you were more like her sister than I ever was… so I’m sorry…” Gloria takes a deep breath, “it was my fault she died, I know it was. No matter what Glenn or anyone else says… so you can blame me for it, hate me, take it out on me if it’ll help you feel better. I won’t resent you for it…”

Mindy stares at her, tears streaming down her face, “why… why are you telling me this…”

“Because it’s the only way I can think of to help you.” Gloria tells her.

“Why are you even **trying** to help me?!” Mindy asks, frustrated.

“I don’t know how else to make it up to Gena…” Gloria says in a whisper as she wipes the stray tear that fell from her eye, she then takes a deep breath, “talk to me, Mindy. Lash out at me or something… you gotta let out your emotions, keeping it all bottled in is not going to help you.”

“You’re a lot like her…” she says with a tearful smile, Mindy’s words take Gloria aback, “always trying to get me to talk about my feelings… let out my emotions… you’re just like her… which is why I can’t talk to you… you’re too much like her…”

“W-what?” Gloria whimpers softly, her voice shaking.

“The way you treat your family… Glenn, Daryl, Maggie… how you are with them, that’s exactly how Gena was with me and Jake…” Mindy sniffles, “you’re a lot more like your sister than you ever thought.”

Never in her life did Gloria ever think she was anything like Gena. It wasn’t a good nor a bad thing, it just never crossed her mind but hearing Mindy of all people saying it, it had to be true. 

Gloria takes a deep breath to compose herself, “listen… you **need** to talk to somebody… if you don’t want to… if you **can’t** talk to me, it doesn’t have to be me. Rosita’s willing to help you, Denise was a psychiatrist, they can both help you, we just need you to try and help yourself. Jacob doesn’t want to see you like this.”

“You don’t care about me or my brother, Gloria, I know you don’t.” Mindy says, her voice sounding tired, “just go… we don’t need you.”

Gloria sighs and nods, then turns away to walk out of the room only to stop and look back at Mindy when she gets to the door, “you’re so damn selfish, you know that?”

“What?” Mindy frowns at her words.

“I said you’re so damn selfish,” Gloria turns around again to face her, “you act like you’re the only one who lost someone, but you’re not. Jacob lost her too.”

Mindy’s face softens at that, there is a look of realization on her face but she says nothing.

“Before Gena died… she said that you’re her family, that included Jacob, it wasn’t just you. He lost her too and now he feels like he’s losing **you** because you keep pushing him away! **He** needs you now more than anybody!” Gloria shouts, “you’re right, I **don’t** care about you or Jacob, you’re not my family… but he came to us to ask for help because he doesn’t know what else to do, and I came because… because if Glenn were pushing me away like you’re doing to Jacob… I’d be hurting too.”

Gloria watches as tears well up in Mindy’s eyes. She looks down and sniffles, and Gloria can tell that she’s trying to hold herself together; Mindy had never been the type of person to cry in front of others. Knowing this, Gloria takes her leave and gently closes the door behind her and makes her way down the stairs when she hears muffled sobs from behind the door. 

“How is she?” Jacob asks her when she gets downstairs. 

“She’s… well she’s crying, I don’t know if you would consider that good.” Gloria says.

“Well, at least she’s letting it out so it’s good I guess…” Jacob smiles at her, “thank you.”

Gloria smiles stiffly at him then heads to the door, “alright, I’m off, if she needs anything I think Denise is still gonna be in the infirmary.”

“Wait, why don’t you stay for dinner,” Jacob calls out to her quickly. 

Gloria sighs deeply and turns around to face him, “Jacob, stop focusing on me and focus on taking care of your sister.” 

“I’m trying to take care of her, but I want to take care of you too, despite what you might think, I **do** care about you.” Jacob says.

“Well, you shouldn’t. I’m okay, I don’t need you to care about me but Mindy does. I have Glenn. I have **Daryl**. I have an entire house full of people to look after me, but Mindy only has you.” Gloria says, “I already took Gena away from her… don’t let her think that I’m taking you away from her, too. Good bye, Jacob.”

Without waiting for his response, Gloria opens the door and leaves the house. She makes her way back to her own house as the sky told her that it was almost time for supper. When she reached the porch and opened the door, she saw that everyone, including those who were living in the house next door, gathered in the living room. 

“Did I miss a memo about a family meeting?” Gloria says as she joins them, worry growing in her heart as she sees the stern looks on their faces. 

“Rick’s suggesting that we move into our own homes,” Carol informs.

Gloria frowns and looks at their leader, “what?”

“Because of the attacks… the herd… we lost a lot of people and because of that, a lot of the houses are now empty,” Rick explains, “I know that all of us, we’ve been feeling pretty cramped living in just two houses.”

“Isn’t it a bit too soon though?” Gloria asks, “I mean… we just lost people and now we’re taking over their houses.. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Glenn, Maggie, and Tara nod in agreement with her words. The others stay silent, not knowing what else to say.

“Personally, I think it is best that we start filling out those houses. Keeping the houses empty is just a constant reminder that we’ve lost people, but moving in, taking up that once empty space proves that we’re only growing as a community. Moving into those houses doesn’t mean we’ll forget those we’ve lost, we never will. It just shows that we’re moving on as a whole.” Rick says.

“I agree with that,” Maggie speaks up, “I’m just worried how it would look to the others who have been in Alexandria since the beginning, they might not see it like that.”

“I’ve talked to them, a majority of them, and they all agree with occupying the vacant houses,” Rick says, he looks around and still feels the hesitation from the others, “I understand that and I know that some of you will agree with Gloria that it’s too soon, this is not a vote or anything like that. I brought it up to let you all know that it’s an option, if you want to, it’s all up to you.”

With that, it was decided that whoever wanted to move into their own homes would do so. Gloria suggested that Glenn and Maggie took the opportunity despite her initial reluctance as they were expecting a new member of their family. Tara had moved out to live with Denise while Carol, Gabriel, and Sasha both decided to each have their own separate homes. Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene stayed in the second house they were given as Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Judith remain living in the main house. Gloria hadn’t discussed moving with Daryl yet, she knew that he didn’t like being so spread out even if it was within the community. She knew he found it comfortable just living like they had been so she didn’t want to bring it up. 

For the next few days, the group dispersed, packing and moving into their own respective houses. Daryl was at Glenn’s new house helping him unpack and now the two were in the living room tidying up the place. 

“Yo, Glenn?” Daryl calls out after a bit of hesitation.

“Yeah?” he answers.

“Can I ask ya somethin’?” Daryl says.

“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Glenn asks back, looking at him.

“Ya remember the night jus’ before Rick told us ‘bout the quarry… when yer sister… Gena… she came to talk to me?” Daryl asks, unsure of himself since he was worried how Glenn would react to him bringing up Gena.

To his relief though, Glenn just nods, “I remember.”

“Well she came to… to give me her blessin’ ‘r… somethin’ like that…” Daryl could feel the blood rushing to his face as he spoke.

A smile grows on Glenn’s lips as he registers Daryl’s words and he immediately knows what Daryl wants to ask, “so, you want to ask if you have my blessing too?”

Daryl purses his lips and nods slightly, mentally cursing himself for being so shy and nervous, “…do I?”

“Daryl, after all this time and all we’ve been through together, did you really think I would say no?” Glenn asks, chuckling. 

He shrugs at that, hesitantly biting his lip as he struggles to find the words to form his next question, “what ya an’ Maggie have… do ya think… Gloria’d want that?” 

“She does,” Glenn answers with a smile, “I know she does, she told me herself.”

“Ya talked to her ‘bout this stuff before?” Daryl asks.

“We did, a while ago. Before walkers existed,” Glenn starts, “basically we were having a heart to heart and she opened up to me about wanting a relationship with someone who actually cares for her and loves her. I joked around and asked her if she’d ever settle down and be someone’s housewife because that’s not her style, but she surprised me and said that if she found the right person then she’s open to anything, even that.”

“The right person…” Daryl murmurs in deep thought.

“Hey,” Glenn calls out, making Daryl look up at him, he smiles, “I’m glad to know you’re thinking about this, having a future with my sister. I know it’s not really your thing so it really means a lot that you’re willing to talk to me about it.”

Daryl shrugs, a bashful smile on his face, “you’re right… it ain’ my thing but… she’s worth it… ya know?”

Glenn smiles at Daryl and nods, patting his arm in gratitude. The two of them get back to helping Glenn unpack and tidy the house for the next few hours. After that was done, Daryl decides to go back to the house, gathering his and Gloria’s things and moving them to the empty house beside Aaron’s. He figured it was the best choice since Aaron’s garage was still packed full of bike parts so it would be convenient for Daryl if he ever needed to tune up his bike. He hadn’t talked to Gloria about moving anywhere yet, but from his conversation with Glenn, he knew that Gloria wanted this. 

By the time Daryl had finished moving into his and Gloria’s new house, it was close to the evening which meant Gloria was about to get off her shift at the infirmary. Wanting to surprise her, Daryl makes his way over to the infirmary and knocks on the door before entering.

“Hey,” Rosita greets him as she sits on the bed, facing the front entrance of the infirmary. 

“Hi,” Daryl greets her back, he looks around but doesn’t see Gloria in the main room, “where’s…”

“She’s upstairs with Carl and Denise, you can go up if you want,” Rosita tells him but he shakes his head.

“It’s okay, I’ll jus’ wait here,” Daryl says.

“Okay,” Rosita nods with a small smile, an awkward silence passes between the two, “hey um… so, Abraham told me what happened out there on the road, how you blew up a bunch of thugs with a rocket launcher.”

Daryl chuckles and nods, “yeah, I did.’

“I just wanted to say thank you. I mean, I know you didn’t do it just for them, but… I may have never seen Abe again if it weren’t for you, so… thanks.” Rosita says, sincerity in her voice.

“I’d do it again if I had to,” Daryl says.

“Yeah, I’m sure you would.” Rosita says with a chuckle.

“So… I can just bounce this off the walls and you’re sure my dad won’t say anything?” Carl’s voice can be heard from upstairs.

“As long as you tell him that Denise said it’s P.T., you should be fine,” Gloria says, she then gently grabs his arm as they head downstairs, “watch your step, buddy.”

“Hey, don’t pin this on me,” Denise whines as she walks behind the two.

“Well, you **are** the one who said it,” Carl grins, then he thinks of something and looks at Gloria, “is there such a thing as sound therapy?”

“There is, why?” Gloria says.

“Would it help me?” Carl asks.

“Technically, all types of therapy can help you,” Denise answers.

“I have a guitar in my room, no idea how to play it but you can, right?” Carl says, glancing at Gloria.

She gives him a knowing smile and nods, “bring it down and I’ll tune it, then we’ll see if sound therapy works for you.”

Carl grins at her and Gloria gently pats his back as they reach the bottom of the stairs, “hey, Daryl,” he calls out when he sees him standing there, catching Gloria’s attention.

“Hey,” Daryl waves awkwardly to the three.

“Hey,” Gloria smiles and steps towards him, “what’s up?”

“Nothin’… jus’ knew yer shift’s almost over, wanted to pick ya up,” Daryl shrugs, getting shy at his own words. 

“Wow… you wanna give Abraham some pointers on romance?” Rosita teases with a chuckle.

“Hm… Tara too… you think you can give some lessons?” Denise chimes in.

Daryl rolls his eyes and groans, “yeah, we’re gonna go now.”

He gently pulls Gloria out of the infirmary after she’d bid farewell to the others who were still giggling. Daryl doesn’t say anything as he leads her to their new house and Gloria furrows her brows in confusion.

“Daryl, what are you doing? This isn’t our house,” she says.

“‘T is now,” he says as he leads her up the porch and opens the door, leading her inside.

“What do you mean?” Gloria asks, still slightly confused as she steps inside.

“I talked to Glenn earlier,” Daryl starts, his eyes avoiding hers as his shyness creeps up on him again, “he said… he said that ya’d want somethin’ like what he has with Maggie… so…”

“Sweetheart… you didn’t have to do that,” Gloria says as she steps up to him, a soft smile on her face while she caresses his cheek; she doesn’t miss the smile on his lips at her endearment. 

He looks into her eyes, “I wanted to… for you.”

A feeling of warmth and love wells up in Gloria’s heart at his words. She closes the space between them, capturing his lips with hers in a tender, passionate kiss. Daryl’s arms wrap around her, holding her close to him. Even at the end of the world, moving out and living together was still a large step and an even bigger step for Daryl. The last thing she ever wanted was for Daryl to feel forced into doing something he didn’t feel comfortable doing. So knowing that he took initiative to find their own place proved to Gloria that he was willing to take their relationship to another level; another step into their life together. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

Things were looking up for Alexandria. Even after the herd had invaded, the community had put itself back together, cleaning up the streets, organising a graveyard, and most importantly, building up and fortifying the walls. Thanks to Eugene’s and Tobin’s knowledge on construction, it only took a little less than a week to get the wall up and secure again. Now they were on the finishing touches to make it impenetrable to walkers. 

In the late afternoon, Gloria stands on the porch of her house as she bids farewell to Carl. He’d been coming to her every other day for the last few weeks for sound therapy. She watches as Daryl comes up to him and pats him on the back before heading towards her. Gloria smiles at him as he walks up the porch and she notices him holding a container of some sort. 

“Hey you,” Gloria greets him. 

“Hey,” Daryl says back, he then hands her the container, “here.”

She furrows her brows in confusion as she takes it, “what’s this?” 

“Open it,” he tells her, earning a glance from her.

Gloria shrugs and proceeds to open the small plastic container. Once the lid is off, she stares at the contents inside then lets out a chuckle when she realizes what she’s looking at. She looks up at Daryl who seems rather nervous, chewing on his lip.

“Where did you… **how** did you manage to get a mini tub of ice cream?” Gloria asks. 

Daryl shrugs, “got Carol to make it… ya said ya wanted an ice cream date…” 

“You…” she steps towards him, “are the sweetest thing in the world.”

Gloria closes the space between them, kissing his lips gently. Daryl smiles into the kiss and returns her affection, his arms around her waist. 

“For a second, I thought ya were talkin’ to the ice cream,” Daryl teases when she pulls away from the kiss. 

Gloria chuckles then shakes her head, “well, I don’t call you sweetheart for nothing.”

He playfully rolls his eyes then heads into their house without saying anything to her. Shortly after, he comes back out with a spoon and hands it to Gloria. 

“Didn’t have any cones so this’ll have to do,” Daryl says, leaning on the railing. 

“I’ll take it,” she says, smiling then takes a small spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, “oh wow… Carol is a magician in the kitchen.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her ya said tha’.” he says with a chuckle.

“You tell her everything I say?” Gloria asks, cocking up a brow.

“Nah, if I did, she might not let me hang ‘round ya anymore,” he smirks, “ya can be a bad influence.”

Gloria scoffs at him, “ **I’m** the bad influence?” 

“Yeah, ya can be,” he says, “Carol even said ya make me whipped when I asked her to make that for ya… whatever the hell that means…”

His words make Gloria choke on the ice cream, she coughs a few times making Daryl frown and pats her back. 

“Ya a’right?” he asks.

“Yeah… yeah I’m okay. Carol actually said that?” she asks him and she chuckles when she sees him nod, “and… you really don’t know what that means?”

“Nah, jus’ thought she was talkin’ ‘bout the ice cream.” Daryl shrugs, “am I s’pposed to know?”

Gloria bites her lips together and shakes her head, looking anywhere but Daryl as she continues to eat her ice cream, “nope.”

Daryl eyes her playfully and steps towards her, gently pulling her to face him, “I think ya should tell me.”

“No, I’d rather not,” Gloria says sheepishly. 

“An’ why’s that?” he wraps his arm around her waist, “‘s it a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily?” Gloria answers, she then offers to feed Daryl some ice cream which he accepts. 

“Ya goin’ to the infirmary later?” Daryl asks, he decides to let Gloria off on the term. 

“Yeah, gotta see if Denise is doing okay, be on-call for anyone who might get a splinter or something from the walls,” she says, feeding Daryl the last of the ice cream, “are you gonna be joining the construction today?”

“Was gonna head over after I gave ya this,” Daryl says, nodding pointedly at the now empty ice cream container, “don’ worry, I’ll be there.” 

“Who says I’m worrying?” Gloria furrows her brows together.

“Saw ya watchin’ me for the last fews days while I was working on the wall with the others,” Daryl smirks when he catches her blush.

“Well…” she mumbles, she runs her hand down Daryl’s bare arm, “can you really blame me?” 

Daryl chuckles, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. Gloria giggles at his affection and is about to say something when both of their attention is pulled by Rosita’s voice calling out to Gloria. 

“What happened?” Gloria asks, worried since she knows Glenn was already working on the wall. 

“Glenn punched Jacob.”

—

Glenn had been helping Abraham with construction on the wall for the majority of the morning. The wall was practically finished save for some nails on the weak spots of the part that had caved in. Jacob was working alongside Glenn, holding up the metal plank as Glenn hammers in the nails to hold the piece in place. Jacob glances around the community as he keeps the metal in place, he lets out a sigh when he sees Daryl and Gloria on the porch of their house, frowning at the couple. He noticed the two of them had decided to move in together, and Jacob absolutely hated it. 

“Can you stop being a creep?” Glenn says, disapproval in his voice as he catches him staring at Gloria and Daryl.

Jacob looks at him and sighs, shaking his head, “I just can’t believe they moved in together…”

“You mean you can’t believe that she chose someone else over you,” Glenn says casually, continuing to hammer the nails into the wall.

“No, more like I can’t believe she chose someone like **him** over me,” Jacob retorts, visibly getting more upset. 

“I’m gonna be very clear about something, Jacob.” Glenn says, stepping to him, “I’m happy she chose Daryl over you.”

“Why?” Jacob says through clenched teeth.

Glenn rolls his eyes and points in Gloria’s direction, “look at her, look at how she’s smiling, how happy she is. I’ve never seen her like that with anybody else.”

Jacob takes in his words, but he doesn’t accept them, “I’m a better match for her and you know it! You’re just denying that fact because you want to get back at me for bullying you in high school!” 

Glenn sighs heavily in frustration, “I’m not going to ever use my sister to get back at you, I don’t need to. I’d just do this.”

Without warning, Glenn steps back and punches Jacob in the jaw, sending him tumbling backwards. The others around the two gasp in surprise at the sudden attack. Glenn glares at Jacob as he gets back up, holding his face as he groans in pain. 

“Alright, break it up, you two,” Abraham calls out as he gets in between Jacob and Glenn who were still glaring daggers at each other. 

Glenn huffs and walks away towards Maggie who was watching in worry. Abraham pats his back as he leaves the scene.

“You should get that checked out in the infirmary, that was quite a swing.” Abraham’s voice booms for everyone to hear.

Glenn chuckles when he hears his words, knowing that he was trying to humiliate Jacob even more. He smiles reassuringly at Maggie as he knew she was worried. She furrows her brows as she caresses his face.

“You really had to do that?” she asks.

Glenn sighs and nods, “yeah, I did.”

“Glenn!” Gloria calls as she rushes towards them, Daryl trailing behind her, “you okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Glenn asks rhetorically.

“Jacob’s the one who took all the damage,” Maggie tells her, she seemed rather proud of her husband. 

Gloria chuckles and then glances down at Glenn’s hands, she lets out a breath then speaks in Korean, “y _our hand hurts, doesn’t it_? _It’s swollen_.”

Glenn gives her a look that clearly told her not to tell Maggie and Gloria nods in understanding. Maggie and Daryl furrow their brows in confusion as they didn’t understand what was going on but don’t question it. 

“Daryl!” Abraham calls out, “c’mon, we could use you, we need the man power!”

Daryl scoffs at the redhead’s words then glances at Gloria who nods at him, telling him to go help out on the construction. He lets out a breath then nods and heads over to Abraham. Gloria looks over to Maggie then remembers something.

“Oh Maggie, Rick mentioned something earlier this morning about wanting to talk to you, something about planting and garden plans?” Gloria tells her. 

“Oh yeah, I wanted to talk to him about that too,” Maggie says then gestures to Glenn, “keep him out of trouble?”

Glenn rolls his eyes playfully while Gloria wraps her arm around his neck, “always do!”

Maggie chuckles as Glenn groans then she begins to walk towards Rick’s house to discuss their plans with their leader. 

“Come on, let’s ice that hand.” Gloria says once Maggie is out of sight.

She starts walking towards the infirmary with Glenn trailing behind her, “isn’t Jacob in the infirmary though?”

“Don’t worry about him, I’ll protect you,” she says with a chuckle, earning a playful scoff from her brother. 

Gloria opens the door to the infirmary and she sees Denise assisting Eric to the door. The two look up and smile in greeting at the siblings. Gloria tells Glenn to go in first and wait for her inside. 

“Escorting him back home?” Gloria says with a smile.

“Yeah, um… I might not be back until later, maybe one or two hours…” Denise says sheepishly, earning a chuckle from Eric and a confused look from Gloria.

She glances between Eric and Denise then smirks, “Eric wants to know all about you and Tara, doesn’t he?”

“Why is gossip the first thing you assume when it comes to me?” Eric says with a scoff, pretending to be offended.

“Because it’s true,” Denise says before Gloria can respond.

Eric playfully rolls his eyes, earning a light chuckle from the two women. Gloria bids farewell to Denise and Eric, holding the door open for them to leave. She lets the door swing shut behind her and goes into the main room to find Glenn.

“What reaction did you expect from me when you’re trying to tell me that you’re a better match for my sister?” she hears Glenn say angrily. 

Gloria furrows her brows at his words and looks at the two, Jacob was sitting on one of the beds holding an ice pack to his now swollen jaw while Glenn was glaring at him, “seriously?”

The two look at her as she steps deeper into the room, she eyes Jacob, “ **that’s** why Glenn punched you?”

“I… I didn’t want to cause any trouble…” Jacob stutters his defence, “I just… I thought that if I could convince Glenn… maybe he could get through to you.”

Gloria could feel the rage building inside her but she doesn’t say anything. She just goes towards the pharmacy refrigerator, opening it and taking out an ice pack. She hands it to Glenn and tells him to hold it gently over his knuckles. Gloria can feel Jacob’s eyes on her, as if waiting for her to lash out at him. 

“I gotta set you straight. Stop trying to come between me and Daryl, no matter what you do, you’re **never** going to get what you want,” Gloria seethes, “not when it comes to me.”

“Why him?” Jacob says, stopping Gloria from leaving, “why does it have to be him? I have to know! Why are you choosing him? I can protect you, I can keep you safe just as well as he can!”

“Jacob, just stop…” Glenn sighs when he sees the other man getting emotional.

“No! Not until she tells me why! I have to know what he has that I don’t!” Jacob exclaims.

“If I tell you, will you stop your bullshit and leave me and my family alone?” Gloria asks.

“Yeah… I will.” Jacob says, but his eyes told Gloria that no answer would be enough for him. 

“Okay…” Gloria says, nodding, she takes a step towards him, “I’m not with Daryl because he protects me or because he keeps me safe, I’m with Daryl because I love him, and I love him **because** he’s Daryl. There’s not just one thing about him that I love, I love **all** of him… he just completes me.” 

“And how do you know that?” Jacob asks, his voice full of emotion.

“I realized it the day the dry run went south,” Gloria starts, “Daryl and Glenn were still out there, I couldn’t sleep that night. Not because of the walkers outside our gates, but because I was scared I’d never see either of them again. The first time I cried myself to sleep in a long time was for the two most important people in my life. I can’t live without them… I’d die for them.” 

Glenn looks at Gloria with teary eyes, but there is a smile on his face. He’d never heard his sister pour her heart out like this before, she was never the type to speak about her emotions. It seemed that Jacob thought the same as he had a defeated look on his face. He sighs heavily and nods, surprising both siblings.

“Okay… I’m sorry… like I said, I never wanted to cause any trouble… I just…” Jacob trails off.

“You care about me, I get it,” Gloria finishes for him, “you just gotta show it in a different way, Jacob. We can be friends, but nothing more.”

He looks down and nods, “yeah… I uh… think I’m done with the ice pack…” he holds it out for Gloria to take, then heads out of the infirmary.

Gloria makes her way over to the fridge and puts the ice pack back inside, “was I too harsh?”

“No, I wouldn’t say harsh,” Glenn chuckles and smiles teasingly at her, “did you really cry yourself to sleep?”

Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs playfully at him as she closes the fridge, “really? Out of my emotional speech, **that’s** what you get fr-”

She stops speaking when Glenn pulls her towards him and hugs her tight. Gloria smiles when she realizes what’s happening then hugs him back with a chuckle.

“I’d die for you too,” Glenn says, his voice soft. 

“I know you would.”

—

In the late evening, Gloria was in her and Daryl’s shared bedroom, sitting on their bed as she read a book on pregnancy. She’d found it in their infirmary among the other books and decided that it was best that she read up on pregnancy in order to help Maggie through it. Unfortunately, this was the only book she’d found but it was better than not knowing anything at all. As Gloria was immersed in her studies, she hadn’t noticed Daryl walking into the room until she felt a dip in the mattress as he sat down on the bed. 

“Hey, come here,” she calls out to him, putting the book on the night table beside the bed. 

A shy smile tugs at his lips as Daryl crawls over to her. Gloria takes the towel that was draped over his shoulders and begins to dry his hair. She giggles at the face he makes as she ruffles his hair with the towel. Once she deems his hair dry enough, she wraps the towel around the back of Daryl’s neck and gently pulls him towards herself as she leans back on the bed. Daryl chuckles as he braces himself with his arms around Gloria’s body, his lips capturing hers in a steamy, hot kiss. She wraps her arms around his body, wanting to hold him as close to her as possible. 

As their affection went on, Gloria noticed that Daryl was somewhat different than what she had grown used to. His kisses were soft and gentle, his hands were delicate as they caressed her bare skin. As if each and every touch was just Daryl’s wordless way of letting her know how much she means to him. 

“I love you,” Gloria says breathlessly as she rests her head on his chest, her arm draped across his torso.

Daryl hums in acknowledgement before kissing the top of her head, “ _I wuv you_.” he mumbles into her hair.

Gloria blinks a few times before pushing herself up to look at him with bewildered eyes, “did you just… speak Korean?”

He shrugs as he bites his lips together, looking shy, “asked Glenn ‘bout it… he said somethin’ like tha’… did I say it wrong?”

She grins at him and shakes her head, “no, it was perfect,” she leans in and kisses his lips deeply, “you are so adorable.”

“Nah, I ain’…” Daryl retorts shyly. 

“Why did you suddenly ask Glenn to teach you Korean?” Gloria asks, curiosity in her voice. 

“Thought it’d be good, in case ya and Glenn started yellin’ at each other again, maybe I could do somethin’ ‘bout it,” he explains, a teasing smile on his lips. 

“You’re so sweet,” she giggles and pecks his lips, “but I really wanted to yell at Glenn, nothing can stop me.”

“Oh really?” he challenges, perking up an eyebrow, “not even me? Thought ya’d be willin’ to die for me.” 

Gloria blinks at his words, the realization that Glenn must have told Daryl about what she said dawns on her. This also explained why Daryl was so gentle and loving earlier. 

“Glenn told you?” she asks with a soft smile. 

“Yeah, he did,” Daryl says, gently caressing her face with his knuckles, “didn’ like hearin’ that though… don’ wanna think ‘bout losin’ ya…”

Gloria’s eyes soften at his words and she lets out a small sigh as she snuggles into Daryl’s embrace, his arms tighten their hold on her. She knew that there was nothing she could say to that, not without it being a lie. She couldn’t promise him that nothing would happen to her or that he wouldn’t lose her, in this world, those were promises that no one could keep no matter how hard they tried to. Gloria knew that, Daryl knew that. 

“ _I wuv you_.” Daryl mutters again after a moment of silence and Gloria has to stifle her giggle. 

“Okay,” Gloria looks up at him but doesn’t move from her spot on his chest, “you’re good, but we’ll have to touch up your pronunciation otherwise Glenn is going to tease the hell out of you.”

“Thought ya said it was perfect,” Daryl eyes her playfully. 

“Everything you do is perfect for me, but you sound like you’re doing baby talk,” Gloria chuckles, earning an eye roll from Daryl.

“A’right… how’re ya s’pposed to say it?” Daryl asks.

“ _I love you_ ,” she says slowly so that he can follow along.

“ _I_ … _I w-love you_ …?” Daryl stutters, unsure of himself.

Gloria smiles proudly at him and nods just before kissing his lips again, “ _I love you, too_.” 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The sun’s rays peek through the curtains of Gloria and Daryl’s shared bedroom, disturbing her from her sleep as the rays of light hit her face. Gloria wiggles in their bed as she wakes up, blinking the sleep away from her eyes. She looks to the side and smiles lazily at Daryl who’s already awake laying next to her. He was always able to somehow wake up right before her.

“Mornin’ sunshine.” he greets her with a kiss to the forehead.

Gloria giggles then wraps her arms around his neck, “morning, sweetheart,” she whispers as pulls him down for a kiss. 

Daryl smiles into the kiss but then pulls back slightly, hovering over her with a smirk on his face, “Ya needy,” he pecks her lips teasingly, “last night wasn’ enough for ya?”

His words earn him a playful glare from her as she nips his bottom lip. Daryl chuckles at her before pressing his lips on hers again. He kisses her deeply, earning a soft moan from Gloria as she closes her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his soft lips on hers. She whines when he suddenly pulls away from her, getting up from the bed to get dressed. 

“I should get ready for my run with Rick.” he says, his back was facing her but she could hear the smirk in his voice. 

She throws a pillow at him, hitting him in the arm, “you tease.” 

Gloria sits up on the bed and hugs a pillow to her chest as Daryl puts on his clothes. He turns around as he buckles up his pants and looks at her.

“Ya just gonna stay in bed all day an’ wait for me to come back?” he teases with a side smile.

Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs, “you really think you’re that good?” She gets up as well, grabbing her clothes off the ground and getting dressed herself. 

“Tha’s what ya were telling me las’ night.” Daryl shoots back.

His words cause her face to blush a bright red as she remembers the previous night; she’d been extra affectionate with him after their little Korean lesson. She opens her mouth to retort but isn’t able to come up with anything. Instead, she huffs and leaves the room once she’s dressed. Daryl snickers at her reaction and follows her out, catching her in a hug from behind. 

“Why ya gettin’ all shy when ya were so wild just a few hours ago?” he whispers in her ear. 

She blushes even more and nudges him, “Stop.”

It was mornings like this that she loved. Even though Daryl was going out of his way to embarrass and tease her, it made her happy that he was this playful with her. It was especially rare that he was this bold and Gloria knew that he was this way only around her. 

Daryl spins her around to face him and plants a gentle kiss on her forehead, “I love ya.”

Gloria giggles and wraps her arms around his neck, “I love you too.”

—

As planned, Rick and Daryl had left on their supply run. Gloria was the one handling the gate when they left, letting them out. She had to hold her laughter as Eugene gave them a list of things to look out for, using terminology she couldn’t even understand, but Daryl and Rick’s faces as they tried to comprehend him were just priceless. Around an hour after they had left, Spencer comes up to the gate with a shovel strapped to his back. 

“Open the gate, please.” he says more as a request than a question.

“Are you going out there alone?” Gloria asks back, furrowing her brows.

“Yes, I am.” he tells her, matter-of-factly.

Gloria glances behind him, noticing the shovel and sighs. She understands what he wants to do, so without asking any more questions, she begins to open the gate. Her actions make Spencer frown in confusion, not expecting it to be this easy to have her let him out.

“You’re really going to let me go out there on my own without even asking me what I’m doing?” he asks.

“I already know what you want to do and even if I didn’t, there’s no way I can stop you. You’ve been sneaking out when whoever’s guarding the gates refuse to let you out anyway.” she tells him.

“Y-you noticed…” Spencer gawks at her, surprised.

“I’m not the only one,” she informs. 

Gloria steps to the side of the open gate, giving him access to the outside. He nods to her and begins to walk outside.

“Hey, Spencer?” she calls out to him and he turns to look at her, “bring her back, she should be buried behind these walls, she belongs here.”

Spencer ponders her words, his lips pursed as he nods then continues on his way. Gloria closes and locks the gate behind him. When the herd had roamed the streets of Alexandria, Deanna had gotten bit while trying to get back to the safety of her home and Gloria had noticed none of the graves were marked by her name. 

Shortly after, Michonne walks up to the gate equipped with her sword, “did you let Spencer outside?”

“You say that like he’s a dog,” Gloria chuckles, “but yeah, I did.”

“Did he say what he was going out for?” Michonne asks.

Gloria shakes her head, “no, but I know why he went out there. I know you know why too.”

Michonne sighs at this and nods, then she gestures to the gate, “I’m going after him.”

“You don’t think he can handle himself?” Gloria says, but she steps to open the gate anyway.

“I don’t think he should be out there by himself, if and when he finds her, he might not be able to put her down…” Michonne says, pursing her lips.

Gloria sighs and nods, “yeah… you be careful out there, too.”

Michonne smiles stiffly and nods before walking out of the gated community. Gloria shuts the gate and locks it after she’s out, only to open it again for her and Spencer a few hours later when they both return with Deanna’s corpse. Michonne stays with Gloria at the gates as Spencer carries his mother’s body towards the graveyard.

“Should we help him?” Gloria asks.

“No… I think this is something he wants to do on his own,” Michonne says with a sigh.

—

Gloria had made her way to Deanna’s grave to pay her respects for the woman after Eugene had relieved her of her shift. She stands in front of the grave and smiles softly as she sees that Spencer buried her right beside Reg. 

“Thank you, for everything you’ve done for us, Deanna.” she says softly. 

She hears footsteps approaching from behind her and she glances back to see Spencer coming to the grave with a bundle of flowers in his hand. He smiles softly at her and places the bundle right in front of the wooden cross. 

“I don’t think I’ve said this yet… I’m sorry for what happened to her.” Gloria tells him.

Spencer smiles softly and nods, “I’m sorry about Gena as well,” he then looks at her with a sincere expression, “I wanted to thank you, Gloria.”

She raises her brow at him in confusion, “for what?”

“For telling me to bring her back here. I was just gonna find a spot out there and bury her somewhere outside these walls.” he admits.

“Deanna built this place with Reg, it would just be wrong to have them buried anywhere but here.” Gloria tells him.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think like that before, but you’re right,” he pauses then pulls Gloria into him for a hug, “thank you, for letting me realize that.”

The movement is quick and spontaneous so Gloria wasn’t able to react as he hugs her tight. 

“Thank you…” he whispers, emotion thick in his voice.

Gloria lets out a small sigh and pats his back gently. She wasn’t very comfortable with hugging him since she barely knew him, but she wasn’t going to push him away either, he had just lost his mother. 

She had gotten out of it as she told Spencer that she needed to check up on something at the infirmary so that he would let her go. That was where she found out from Denise that Rick and Daryl had brought a man back but he was unconscious. 

“Unconscious? What happened?” Gloria asks her, crossing her arms.

“Rick said he took a pretty hard hit to the head by a truck door, or something like that. He’s okay, didn’t seem to have any other serious injuries, might have a minor concussion though.” Denise informs.

Gloria nods then looks around, frowning when she sees that the patient beds are empty, “so.. Where is he?”

“Daryl took him to our jail,” Denise tells her, “oh, before you go, I should let you know that Daryl didn’t seem to be in a good mood, he said something about the guy being the reason why their run didn’t work out? Just figured you should know that.”

“Alright, thanks for the heads up.” Gloria smiles at her then leaves the infirmary.

She goes back to their house to find Daryl, she figured that if he wasn’t in a good mood, he’d come to find her first. However, her thought process was apparently wrong when she found the house empty. Pursing her lips, she goes out to the porch where she spots Rick walking down the street.

“Hey, Rick!” she calls out, walking towards him, “do you know where Daryl is?”

He nods pointedly down the street, “taking guard at the jail.” 

Gloria smiles and nods at him, thanking him before going off to find her archer. She runs off in the direction of the house they first kept Rick when he went rogue that one day, finding Daryl seated on the steps fiddling with his fingers. 

“Hey you,” she calls out when she reaches him, she sits down beside him, “you okay?”

Daryl hums and nods, “yeah…”

“You sure? You don’t exactly seem okay,” Gloria calls him out.

“‘M fine…” he persists, “saw ya with Spencer earlier… what’d he want?”

“He just buried Deanna…” she informs him, “he went outside the walls to bring her back, wanted to comfort him, give him my condolences.”

He looks down and mumbles, “ya didn’ have to hug him…”

“Are you…jealous?” Gloria teases and she grins when she sees how his face turns pink, “yeah, you’re totally jealous.”

“I ain’.” he denies.

“Okay, you’re not jealous.” Gloria nods, a cheeky smile on her face, “then you won’t mind if I go to comfort him some more.”

She starts to get up but Daryl pulls her back down and wraps his arms around her, a physical indication that he was definitely jealous. His actions make Gloria giggle, she’s never seen him so protective of her this way before and deep down, she absolutely loved it.

“You’re so adorable.” she says, kissing his cheek.

Daryl rolls his eyes, “am not.”

Knowing that she’s never going to win that argument, she changes the subject, “so who’d you bring back?”

“Some asshole who tried to take our truck.” Daryl tells her.

“He tries to take your truck so you run him over with it?” Gloria raises her brow, trying to understand the story fully.

“Nah, me an’ Rick found this truck full o’ food but this asshole stole it from us, we chased him down an’ got it back but he somehow climbed on the damn roof. I wanted to chase him down and beat his ass but then the truck rolled into a lake.” he sighs as he remembers the events of his day.

Gloria blinks at his story, taking in what he just told her, “so… you’re telling me he climbed on the roof of the truck without you **or** Rick noticing?”

“Yep.” Daryl says.

“Man must be a ninja or something.” she says, making Daryl snort out a laugh, “if he was trying to steal from you two, why even bring him back? He could be a threat.”

Daryl shrugs, “‘t was Rick’s idea, I wanted to put him up a tree.”

“A tree?” Gloria chuckles.

“He was able to get on our moving truck even after we tied him up, he can get himself out a tree. Man even calls himself Jesus, he woulda been fine.” Daryl rants. 

“Really, he calls himself Jesus?” she gawks at him.

“Yeah, prolly ‘cause he has a beard and long hair.” he says, then gets up from the porch, “should go check on him, see if he woke up.”

Gloria gets up as well, following Daryl into the house. When the two of them are inside though, they freeze when they see that the room is empty. They look at each other then bolt out of the house altogether. There was a stranger loose in Alexandria at night who knew how to fight and sneak right out from under Daryl’s nose. They had to find him or things could get really bad. 

Gloria and Daryl split up to find the man. Glenn and Maggie are outside tending to the gardens when they see Gloria frantically going around, looking for something. They go up to her to find out what was wrong. 

“Hey, sis, everything okay?” Glenn asks.

“Have you two seen a man who looks like Jesus?” Gloria asks seriously.

Both Glenn and Maggie blink at her in confusion, they share a look as Maggie shakes her head and Glenn verbally tells her ‘no’.

“What’s this about?” Glenn frowns.

“Daryl and Rick brought someone back from their run, they were in the jail but now they’re gone and no one knows where he is.” Gloria explains.

Hearing this worries Glenn and Maggie as well and they all split up to find this potentially dangerous man. Eventually, they find him sitting on the stairs of Rick’s house. Carl was already pointing a gun at the intruder as he asks him what he’s doing in his house.

“I’m uh, sitting on the steps, looking at this painting, waiting for your mom and dad to get dressed. Hi, I’m Jesus.” the man says.

His words confuse everyone as from their knowledge, Lori was dead. Their confusion is soon cleared though when the door opens and Rick and Michonne emerge from Rick’s bedroom. Daryl has his gun up, pointed at Jesus, fixated on the man. Gloria and Glenn lower their weapons as they look at each other, the siblings share a look and have to keep themselves from laughing at Rick and Michonne for getting caught.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

Things weren’t going quite as planned as they all intended it to. Rick was covered in blood, pointing his gun at a member of Jesus’s community, the Hilltop, with Jesus caught in the middle of the two. The leader of the Hilltop, Gregory, was on the ground, bleeding from his wound that was inflicted by one of his own men. Gloria and the Hilltop’s doctor, Harlan Carson, were treating his wound right where he was laying. This was definitely not how things were supposed to turn out. 

The morning that they had found Jesus in Rick’s house, they had a discussion, an agreement that they could negotiate a trade with each other’s communities. Things seemed to be going perfectly fine until they got to the Hilltop. While on their way to the community, they’d stopped due to the sight of an overturned car and Jesus had let them know that it was one of his, hence starting a rescue mission to save Jesus’s people who he had claimed did not know how to fight. 

That is where they had saved Harlan who also turned out to be an obstetrician, to their pleasant surprise. He was also the one who vouched for the gatekeepers to open the gates, letting all of them inside the walls of Hilltop. 

Once inside, Jesus had led them to the large house in the middle of the community which he informed them was called the Barrington House, where Gregory lived. Gregory proved to be the least helpful when it came to trying to negotiate trade as he was not willing to discuss anything with Maggie. However, Jesus had managed to convince Rick and the others to let him try and talk Gregory into it because he just wants to help them and the Hilltop.

Before any certain decisions could have been made though, some of the Hilltop’s members had come back seemingly from their own trade with another group. A group led by someone named Negan. His people had apparently taken one of the Hilltop’s as hostage until they provided more than what was negotiated. This included Gregory’s life. Unfortunately, they were only told this after he was stabbed in the torso by a man named Ethan. The people of Hilltop are now all extremely wary of Rick and his group as he was covered in Ethan’s blood after he sliced his neck open in self defence. 

“Rick did what had to be done,” Jesus says to his people, “Ethan was nothing but a coward who caused all of this.”

He looks at Rick who’s looking at the others, his gun still raised. Jesus looks around and sees that his people are still afraid of Rick, even if they understand that Ethan had forced Rick’s hand.

“Put the gun down, Rick. You’ve caused enough, I’ve got this handled.” Jesus tells him calmly.

Rick looks at Jesus and nods, complying as he puts his gun back into its holster. Gloria was keeping pressure on Gregory’s wound as Harlan wraps it up with bandages. Once his wound was patched up, one of the Hilltop’s men, Kal, carries him back to his room in the Barrington house.

“You’re a doctor too.” Harlan says, smiling at Gloria.

Gloria smiles back at him, “Alexandria’s very own.”

—

The group stands around Jesus in Gregory’s office at the Barrington House to discuss what was interrupted previously. Jesus stands in front of the fireplace as Rick is leaning on the desk, facing Jesus directly. Michonne sits in a chair next to Rick while Abraham sits in a lounging chair in the corner of the room. Gloria leans on the bookshelf along the wall between Daryl and Glenn with Maggie on his other side. 

“Things like that don’t usually happen here…” Jesus discloses, “but it’s settled.”

“We heard the name Negan.” Rick starts, glancing at Daryl, “Daryl and Abraham had a toss up with his men before on the road, who is he?”

“Negan is the leader of a group who call themselves the Saviors. They showed up at Hilltop once the walls were up and they demanded, threatened, and even killed one of us…” Jesus sighs as he remembers back, “a 16 year old boy named Rory.”

Gloria couldn’t help but gasp, “they… killed a kid…”

Daryl glances at her, making sure she’s alright while Glenn puts his hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

“They made negotiations with Gregory that they would take half of what the Hilltop had and they wouldn’t kill any more of us.” Jesus informs.

Daryl scoffs at this, “Now, hol’ up. So, they show up, kill a kid, and ya give ‘em half o’ everythin’? These dicks just got a good story. The boogeyman, he ain’ shit.” 

Jesus ponders his words with a frown, “how do you know that?”

“When we ran into his guys about a month ago, blew ‘em up to bits. Not one left alive.” Abraham announces.

“Ya know what, we’ll do it. If we go get yer man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will ya hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one o’ them cows.” Daryl offers, pushing himself off the wall as he speaks.

Jesus furrows his brows, contemplating on whether this was a good idea or not. He looks over at Rick to see if he has anything to add as he was the leader of Alexandria.

“We’ve never had a problem with confrontation, and if that’s what it takes to get a deal with the Hilltop then that’s what we’ll do.” Rick reinforces Daryl’s proposal.

“Alright, but I’ll have to talk it over with Gregory. He’s still the leader of Hilltop.” Jesus tells them all. 

Rick nods at that and they all leave the office as Jesus goes to find Gregory in his bedroom. After a while, Jesus comes back to let them know that Gregory wants to speak with Maggie alone. Having full faith in her, they all watch as Maggie heads up to talk to Gregory about their deal. Gloria sighs as she sits on a chair next to Daryl who’s looking out the window. She looks up at him, worried. His proposition concerned her. They didn’t know who these Saviors were or what they could do and yet they’re fighting them head on. She didn’t have a good feeling in her gut. 

Gloria reaches out to Daryl, taking his hand in hers. Her touch catches his attention as he looks in her direction, nodding at her as a silent way to ask her what’s wrong.

“I’m worried about how this is all gonna go,” she sighs, “do we really have to fight?”

Daryl purses his lips together before speaking, “we need this. We barely got food at home, and Maggie’s havin’ a baby. It’s the only play we got with this prick runnin’ the place.”

“Yeah…” she looks down and sighs, “yeah, you’re right…”

He notices her worried expression and moves to kneel down in front of her. Gloria looks at him once he’s eye level with her. Daryl holds her hand in his, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb.

“It’s gonna be okay. We’ll all be okay.” he reassures her.

Gloria nods with a small smile as Daryl kisses her forehead. As they hear footsteps coming from the stairs, Daryl gets up with Gloria to meet Maggie and the others for the result of the negotiation. Surprisingly, Gregory had agreed with their terms that they get half of the Hilltop’s supplies in exchange of them getting their man back as well as getting rid of the Saviors for good. 

Once the RV is set with half of the Hilltop’s supplies, the group sets off back to Alexandria. Rick had asked one of the Hilltop’s people, Andy, to come back with them as he had been one of the people who frequently delivered goods to Negan’s compound and Rick needed him to tell them everything he knew about it as a precaution. Jesus had decided to come back to Alexandria with them as well since they were fighting the Hilltop’s battle. 

On the way back home, Glenn and Maggie admire the picture of Maggie’s ultrasound that Harlan had given them. Glenn passes the picture over to Abraham who smiles proudly, nodding at him as he looks at the picture. He then hands it over to Daryl who smiles softly at the picture before nudging Gloria. She was reading a book on pregnancy, she had asked Harlan if she could borrow some books from him so that she could help Maggie along. Gloria looks over at Daryl then down at the picture, a happy smile spreads on her face as she looks up at Glenn. He grins at her, happy and proud as she nods at him. 

—

Rick had held a meeting inside Alexandria’s church to discuss the plans to take out the Saviors. With some hesitation from the townspeople, they all came to an agreement to go on with the plan. Rick, Daryl, and Glenn were going through the plan in detail with Jesus and Andy; they had Andy draw out what he knew about the compound and guide them through the place. 

That night, Gloria was sitting on the bed in her bedroom. She was fixing up Daryl’s vest, sewing up the hole where he had gotten stabbed in the back by the Saviors he’d run into a few weeks prior. Daryl comes into the room and stands by the doorway as he watches her for a bit.

“Ya can sew too?” he comments, a side smile pulling at his lips.

Gloria smiles at him, “honestly, it’s no different than stitches. Just the material is different and it’s less bloody… well, okay, it **should** be less bloody.”

Daryl chuckles at her words and sits down beside her on the bed. He starts to nibble on his thumb as he observes her sewing. Gloria notices this as she glances over at him.

“What’s up?” she asks, knowing he only does this when he’s hesitant or uncomfortable.

“Can ya stay back tomorrow?” he asks, chewing on his bottom lip.

His words cause her to stop sewing as she turns to look at him, “what?”

“Can ya stay in Alexandria an’ not go?” he asks again, looking at her seriously.

Gloria shakes her head, “I have to go with you, I can’t stay back.”

“We need ya here as the doctor.” Daryl argues.

“Denise is gonna be here, she’s been doing great, she can handle things here. Besides, Maggie’s pregnant and she’s going. I can’t not go,” she reasons with him.

He sighs and wraps his arms around her, hiding his face in the crook of her neck before mumbling, “I don’ want ya to go… it ain’ safe.”

Gloria puts her hand on his bare arm and kisses his shoulder, “I know you want me to be safe but I need to be there with you. Plus, it’s better that I’m there as the on site medic in case shit really does hit the fan. This is really serious, and I’m not letting you leave me behind like with the herd, not this time.”

Daryl pulls back and looks her deep in the eyes, caressing her face with his thumb then leans in to kiss her on the lips lovingly.

“After this shit with the Saviors is over, marry me.” he whispers over her lips.

Her eyes widen as his words register in her mind, she stares at him then breaks into a joyful smile, nodding. She then kisses him again, adding more passion into the kiss than before. 

—

Early the next morning, the group had made their way to the outskirts of the Savior’s outpost. Rick had a plan to find a walker, behead it, and make it look like Gregory so that Andy can trick the Saviors into thinking they’d killed Gregory. The only way they could get the captured Hilltop member back was by giving them Gregory’s head. 

“Hey, Gloria come here.” Glenn calls to his sister, pulling her to the side, “I need you to stay outside with Maggie.”

“Sure, of course, you got it.” Gloria agrees without hesitation, but she furrows her brows when she notices Glenn’s perplexed face, “what else?”

“I really can’t hide anything from you, huh?” Glenn chuckles softly then sighs, “listen, if things go sideways and shit happens-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” Gloria interrupts him, “nothing is going to happen. You’re all going to make it out alive, the only ones dying tonight are the Saviors.”

“I know, but I’m not only talking about today. In the future, if anything happens to me promise me, **promise me** that you’ll take care of Maggie and our kid.” Glenn says, “when I was out there with Nicholas, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to me or if I was even going to be able to make it back. I’m lucky I did but it got me thinking… who’s going to take care of them if something really does happen to me?” 

Gloria sighs at his words. She hated that she was even having this conversation with Glenn. She hated it even more that it reminded her of her last conversation with Beth. Gloria understood where he was coming from though and that he needed to think of Maggie and his child, but she never wanted to ever think about it if anything ever happened to Glenn. He’s the only blood family she had left, but she didn’t want to let him down, she couldn’t.

“Me.” Gloria says firmly, she puts her hand on his shoulder to reassure him, “I’ll take care of them, but you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. You’re gonna be there for Maggie when she gives birth and you’re going to cry when you hold your kid for the first time, **and** you’re gonna let me tease you forever for crying.” 

Glenn chuckles at her words and nods, “you’re gonna bring it up every chance you get, aren’t you?”

“Oh yeah.” Gloria responds, grinning at him.

—

After Rick had chosen the walker head to present to the Saviors as Gregory’s, the group waited until it was dark to initiate their plan. When Rick deemed it dark enough, everyone but Maggie, Gloria, and Carol moved in to infiltrate the Savior’s compound. The three of them were left behind to watch the perimeter and keep guard; Carol was originally supposed to go in and help the others but she wanted to make sure that Maggie and Gloria were safe. 

Around an hour had passed since the others went inside, Gloria was leaning on one of their cars with Carol who was smoking a cigarette away from the other two while Maggie paced around the area anxiously waiting for the others to return. Suddenly, an alarm blares in the direction of the outpost, alerting the three women that something had gone wrong, their group had gotten caught by the Saviors. 

“Maggie! Gloria!” Carol calls out to the other two; she saw the looks on their faces, she knew exactly what they were thinking.

“We have to go,” Gloria says, looking at Maggie who nods at her.

“Stop!” Carol shouts at them, “we have to watch the perimeter, we can’t go in there!”

“You and Gloria stay out here, I’m going in to help them,” Maggie orders.

“Hell no!” Gloria shouts above the alarm, “there is no way I’m letting you go in there alone.”

“Will you two stop it! We’re not going in there, we told Rick, Daryl and Glenn that we’re staying out here!” Carol reminds them.

“Glenn and Daryl are still in there and they need help” Gloria argues, she then turns to Maggie, “stay out here with Carol, you’re pregnant with my niece or nephew, I’m **not** letting you go in.”

“ **You’re** not going either, Gloria!” Carol yells, “you promised Glenn you would stay out here to keep Maggie safe.”

Gloria and Maggie sigh, not knowing what to do. With the alarm continuing to blare, it was difficult to hear any footsteps in the surrounding area and it wasn’t until Carol looked behind Maggie and pulled out her gun that Gloria and Maggie realized that something was very wrong. The two turn around in the direction Carol was facing and pull out their weapons. Carol shoots a man in the arm as he was making his way over to them. Gloria rushes towards the man who had fallen due to the shot, her gun drawn; there was no way she was letting Maggie near these people.

“Drop it.” a female voice sounds from behind Gloria just as she was about to pull the trigger. 

Gloria looks behind her and sees a redhead woman holding Carol at gunpoint and a younger black haired woman holding a knife to Maggie’s throat. She glances back behind her as she feels another person stepping towards her and sees an older woman pointing a gun at her. 

“I want your weapons on the ground right now,” the redhead orders.

Seeing that they have no other choice, Maggie, Carol, and Gloria disarm themselves and put their weapons on the ground as requested. The others, assuming they were Saviors, come up to them and tie their hands together. Their captors take them to the perimeter of the outpost, trying to figure out themselves what to do as the sun begins to rise. Soon enough, they hear the revving of a motorcycle and spurts of gunfire. 

The redhead rushes to see what’s going on, looking through a pair of binoculars that she had hanging around her neck. 

“Shit… they have Primo.” she says, seemingly frustrated. 

“We need him to patch me up.” the man that Carol shot groans in pain.

“Give me that.” the redhead reaches out for the man’s walkie talkie then presses the button before speaking into it, “Drop it, prick. Yeah you, with the Colt Python, drop it now.” 

After waiting for a pause, Rick’s voice is heard through the walkie, “come on out, we can talk.”

“We’re not coming out, but we will talk.” she then turns towards the three, “names, now!”

They stay silent until the older woman points a gun to Carol’s head, “she’s Carol, that’s Gloria… I’m Maggie.”

The redhead nods then continues to speak into the walkie, “we have a Carol, Gloria, and a Maggie. That might be something you want to talk about.”

“Okay, we’ll talk. But we want to hear their voices.” Rick says over the walkie.

She rolls her eyes but goes over to Carol first, putting the walkie to her mouth, “Rick, it’s Carol, I’m okay but-”

Carol gets pushed to the side, the redhead woman doesn’t allow her to say anything else as she moves to Maggie, “it’s Maggie, we’re okay.”

She pushes Maggie out of the way then gets to Gloria. She holds the walkie up to her as Gloria glares at the woman in front of her, staying silent. She needed to think of something, something that could help them get out of this mess. A hint, a clue, something, anything. 

“What about Gloria!” Glenn’s voice is heard through the walkie.

The redhead roughly pulls Gloria’s hair, “speak, or they’re gonna get it.” she threatens, nodding pointedly at Maggie and Carol.

Gloria had taken note that the sun had just risen, and it was directly behind them. She only had one chance to give them a clue, she only hoped that Glenn was still holding the walkie. 

“ _Older brother, look in the direction of the sun_!” Gloria says quickly in Korean, earning her a hard punch to the side of the head from the black haired woman.

“What the hell did you just say!” she yells at her.

The redhead grabs Gloria by the collar and puts the barrel of her gun right under her jaw, “tell me what you just said otherwise I’ll shoot you.”

“Go ahead, shoot me.” Gloria challenges, making the redhead frown in confusion.

“No!” Carol cries in protest. 

She presses the gun harder against Gloria’s skin, “Don’t think I won’t.”

“You don’t have a silencer, they’ll hear it and come straight for you. Go ahead and take your chances, bitch.” Gloria spits out. 

The redhead seethes at her words in anger, pushing Gloria away as she knows she’s right. 

“We should just make the trade and get our man back!” the man groans as he leans on the older woman for support. 

The redhead doesn’t respond to him, instead she holds the walkie up to her mouth, “you heard from the three so now here’s the deal, you have one of ours and we have three of yours.” 

“We’ll do a trade.” Rick says through the walkie.

“No, that’s not a fair bargain, one for three? Especially when one of yours shot one of ours.” she says.

“Your one man for our three women.” Rick tries again, not giving up.

“Good talk.” she finishes the conversation, turning off the walkie, then turns to the others, “blindfold them and take them away.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The Saviors took Gloria, Maggie, and Carol to one of their other compounds, a slaughterhouse, where they were gagged and had their hands taped together. As they walked to the vehicles to get to their location, Gloria made sure to make as much of a trail as possible for Daryl to easily track them. She had managed to get away with it since she wasn’t able to see. 

From the Savior’s constant bickering, they had learned that the redhead’s name was Paula, the older woman Molly, the man Carol had shot was Donnie, and the black haired woman was Michelle. The Saviors put the women in a large room, each on different sides of the wall where their blindfolds were finally taken off. They had left the three in the room to clear out walkers that had wandered into the building. When they saw that they were alone, all three of them started to try and cut the tape binding their hands. However, they all stopped once the door opened. 

Paula had returned to the room with Donnie, setting him down on the wall close to the door she had just entered. To make matters worse, Carol starts to hyperventilate, worrying Maggie and Gloria as she is still gagged. Maggie tries to get the Savior’s attention as Gloria, muffled, tries to call out to Carol. She looks over at Gloria with teary eyes, struggling to breathe. Gloria tries to help her through her breathing, moving her head up and down in an exaggerated way to guide her breaths. 

“What?” Molly says as she removes Maggie’s gag.

“You need to remove her gag, she’s hyperventilating!” Maggie says, worry in her voice as she gestures to Carol.

Molly looks towards Carol and scoffs as she watches Gloria trying to help Carol, she finally goes over to remove Carol’s gag, “a nervous little bird, aren’t you.”

Carol ignores her mocking comment as she has her eyes locked on Gloria as she attempts to fish something out of her pant pocket. Molly frowns at this and reaches into Carol’s pocket and takes out a string of beads with a rosary attached. Carol takes the rosary from her and seemingly calms down once the item is in her hands. 

“Oh, you’re one of **those**.” Molly rolls her eyes and gets up from crouching. 

When Carol’s breathing returns to normal, she looks towards Maggie, “please, please don’t hurt Maggie… don’t hurt the baby.” 

Her words cause the Saviors to gape at her then look at Maggie, Molly laughs, “you’re so stupid.”

“What were you thinking?” Paula asks, crouching in front of Maggie to get on her eye level, “getting knocked up at a time like this?”

“I took a chance in this ugly world. I made a choice to have a life.” Maggie answers, not at all ashamed of her choices.

Paula scoffs at this but says nothing else. She goes back to help Donnie with his arm, checking on his wound.

He groans in pain, “we need to make the deal, we gotta get Primo back to patch me up.”

“Our backup will be here in thirty minutes, we just need to wait.” Paula tells him, not giving in.

“He may not have thirty minutes,” Maggie calls out, “his nerves are dying.”

The two of them stare at her, Donnie has fear written all over his face while Paula looks annoyed. 

“If you don’t believe me, ask her,” Maggie says, nodding pointedly to Gloria.

Gloria glances over at Donnie’s arm, from what she could see from her end of the room, his nerves were indeed dying; his wound had caught a really bad blood infection. As she’s still gagged, Gloria just nods to tell them that Maggie was right.

“Are you a doctor?” Donnie asks as he gawks at Gloria then becomes furious when she nods, “why the hell didn’t you say anything?!”

Gloria rolls her eyes and tries to speak through her gag, “‘ow cou’ I whe’ ‘ou’ ga’ ‘e?”

“Take that damn thing off her!” Donnie shouts at Molly, “what did you say?!”

“I said how could I say anything when you gagged me?” Gloria repeats after her gag is taken off.

Donnie gets up and makes his way to her, groaning at the pain in his arm, “you’re a doctor?”

“I am.” Gloria tells him again.

“Can you patch me up?” he asks, his voice becoming desperate.

Gloria looks at his arm again, she sees that it’s bloody and swollen. The flesh around the wound had already started turning a deep red and purple.

“I can’t help you.” Gloria tells him straightforwardly. 

Donnie scowls at her, angry at her words, “you **will** help me otherwise you’ll have to watch your friends die!” 

He turns towards Carol, about to lunge towards her when Maggie hurriedly scoots forward and kicks him down. Angered, he starts going after her. Gloria moves from her spot to kick Donnie in the face.

“I can’t help you without the proper tools! What the fuck do you expect me to do?! Dig the bullet out with my fingers? You’ll bleed out and be even more prone to infection!” Gloria yells at him.

Donnie looks at her with a pained expression, spitting out blood from a broken tooth. 

“If we had the tools, would you be able to help him?” Michelle asks her, looking at Gloria with wary eyes.

Gloria looks up at her and nods, “I can try.”

“We have a medical room in the building.” she reveals then she’s about to go over to Gloria to free her hands when Paula grabs her arm to stop her.

“Don’t. What if she’s lying about being a doctor?” Paula warns her.

“You’re going to have to take my word for it if he wants to live, you’re wasting all this time talking when I could be helping him, if he waits any longer he’s not gonna make it.” Gloria says.

She had assessed the situation already, Donnie was clearly anxious and desperate so she needed to take advantage of that. Right now, the only one who could actually help him have a chance at living was Gloria. Donnie grunts, getting up and heading towards Gloria to free her of the tape.

“Wait!” Paula shouts at him, she puts her gun to Maggie’s head, “if you try anything, you can say goodbye to the future mama and baby.”

Gloria glares at Paula and waits as Donnie frees her from her restraints. She glances at Carol and gives her a subtle nod as Michelle roughly pulls her to stand and pushes her towards Molly who’s waiting at the other door. She leads her outside to the medical room with Donnie following. Gloria sighs as they reach the room.

“Sit down, the last thing I need is you moving while I take out the bullet.” Gloria instructs him, gesturing to the makeshift patient bed.

He grumbles something she doesn’t care to comprehend and sits on the bed as instructed. Gloria carefully removes the rope tied around Donnie’s arm. He groans in pain as blood rushes back into his arm. She finds the first aid kit that was situated on a small table beside the bed and sifts through its contents to find half a bottle of disinfectant and gauze. Gloria opens the bottle and pours the liquid onto the gauze.

“This is gonna sting.” she says, but doesn’t wait for him to respond or prepare himself for it when she starts wiping down the wound. 

The contact causes Donnie to hiss and shriek in pain. Gloria frowns as she wipes down the blood on his arm. She sees that the flesh around the wound had already turned from dark red to a purplish black. He glances at her and notices her change in expression. 

“What? What’s that look?!” he shouts at her.

Gloria shakes her head, deciding to lie, “it’s just that the bullet is really in there, I’m gonna have to dig deep to get it out, but it’s probably going to be one of the most painful things you’ll have to endure.”

“Just do it!” he shouts, getting more and more impatient as she doesn’t seem to be doing anything.

Gloria huffs and grabs a pair of tweezers, wiping it off with an alcohol swab. She then takes a dirty looking towel off the table, holding it up to Donnie’s mouth. He looks at her warily, not wanting to bite onto the towel.

“Bite it or you’re gonna scream like a little bitch!” Gloria shouts at him, earning a snicker from Molly who had been supervising the entire time.

Donnie scowls but complies, grimacing at the dirty towel in his mouth. Gloria grabs firmly onto his arm and starts digging into the wound without another warning. He screams out in pain, biting hard onto the towel. His knuckles turning a pale white from grabbing the edge of the bed so tightly. Gloria’s concentrating on taking the bullet out but it’s taking her longer than usual; his flesh was very swollen around the wound and it did not help that Donnie was thrashing and shaking. Though she couldn’t exactly blame him, this was one of the worst gunshot wounds she had ever had to treat. 

Donnie lets out a whimper when Gloria was finally able to take out the bullet. She purses her lips at the sight of the wound. It was still bleeding but the color of his blood was darker than usual. Gloria couldn’t let him know that he was already beyond saving, not if she wanted Maggie and Carol to live. Without saying another word, Gloria starts to wrap up the wound with gauze and bandages. 

“Do you have any antibiotics for him?” Gloria asks Molly who shakes her head, “well, you better find some otherwise he’s going to have hell of an infection.”

Little did they know, it had already started to spread. Molly rolls her eyes at her words then grabs Gloria’s arm, forcing her back into the room to meet Maggie and Carol. Donnie follows them, he looks weak and pale as his face is sweaty. Gloria frowns when she looks around the room and doesn’t see Maggie. Molly pushes her further into the room, making her fall to the ground. 

“Carol, where’s Maggie?” she asks as she looks over to her friend.

“The other girl took her for interrogation.” Carol replies tearfully.

Gloria glares at Molly, “if anything happens to her or her baby, I’m going to kill every single one of you.” 

Molly approaches her with more tape to bind her hands, “yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say.”

Noticing that Paula wasn’t in the room, Gloria takes her chances knowing that Donnie was in no position to fight. She pretends to let Molly take her hands but then grabs the older woman by the collar and rolls back, kicking Molly up with her legs and throwing her backwards. Molly yelps as she’s thrown to the wall, groaning in pain as she writhes on the floor. Gloria spins around and gets on her feet, shooting Donnie a warning look.

“Don’t move, you don’t stand a chance with your arm like that.” she tells him.

Donnie glares at her but isn’t able to do anything. She notices that he’s getting paler by the second and that it was only a matter of time before he dies from the infection. Gloria goes over to Molly and quickly tapes her hands and feet together to prevent her from trying anything else. She goes over to Donnie to grab his gun and her daggers he had taken from her before.

“You… you bitch…” Donnie rasps, too weak to stop her, “your look wasn’t from the bullet being too deep… you already knew I was gonna die…”

Gloria sighs and nods, “I’m sorry, I really am.” 

She then goes over to Carol and carefully cuts the tape from her hands, handing Carol the gun she’d taken from Donnie, “you’re a better shot than me.”

Carol gets up and nods at her, Gloria equips her daggers back on her own belt.

“You’re all dead! You’re all gonna die! When Negan finds you, you’re in for it!” Molly shouts frantically as she wiggles on the ground. 

Gloria looks over to her, stepping to the woman as she takes a dagger out from its sheath when Carol grabs her arm to stop her, “Don’t, she can’t do anything like that.” 

“We came here to kill the Saviors, **all** of them, and she’s one of them.” Gloria reminds her. 

She gently shakes off Carol’s hand on her arm and goes towards Molly who’s still shouting at them. Gloria plunges the dagger into Molly’s skull, killing her instantly and preventing her from turning into a walker. In this time, Donnie had already fallen unconscious. 

“Do you know where the other one went?” Gloria asks Carol as she stands back up and turns to face her.

“She went to clear the halls, she knows that Rick and the others are close by, there wasn’t any static through the walkies.” Carol informs.

Gloria nods, “okay, we gotta find Maggie and get the hell out of here.”

She leads the way to find Maggie with Carol following closely behind, her gun in hand as her back up. They make it to another room where they see Maggie alone and trying to break out of her restraints. Gloria rushes over to her and helps her, cutting the tape around her wrists. She puts her hands on her shoulders to examine her body for damage.

“Are you okay?” Gloria asks.

Maggie nods, then looks to Carol and nods at her as well. Gloria takes Carol’s hand and the three of them try to find a way out of the building when shots start firing towards them. The three of them have to separate to avoid getting hurt by the bullets. Paula and Carol have their guns pointed towards one another while they hear Michelle calling out for her friends from down the hall. Maggie sneaks along the wall before Gloria could stop her and catches Michelle off guard. She throws Michelle to the wall but Maggie is pushed back to the opposite wall. Michelle lunges towards her again with a blade in her hand and nearly slices Maggie’s belly. Maggie gasps at the close call as she holds out her shirt, seeing just how close the blade was to her baby. Gloria rushes up to Michelle, grabs her roughly by her hair and stabs her in the back of the head. She lets Michelle’s lifeless body drop to the ground after pulling out her dagger, then she goes to Maggie to make sure she’s physically unharmed. 

The two of them go to find Carol back in the hallway fighting with Paula just as Carol pushes her into a pipe sticking out of the wall that was holding a walker in place. She screams in pain and agony as the walker bites off her face, unable to move as she was impaled by the piece of metal. 

Suddenly, the walkie on Paula’s belt sounds, “we’ve arrived at the perimeter.”

Carol, Gloria, and Maggie all look at one another as Carol takes the walkie, imitating Paula’s voice, “meet us on the killing floor.”

They knew they needed to finish what they came for. The three of them make their way to the designated place and Carol pours gasoline over the ground inside the room. Gloria drags a trail outside the room where they wait for the other Saviors to show up. They close the door slightly as they hear footsteps approach. 

All three of the women are silent as they know what’s next to come. Carol drops a lit cigarette to the trail of gas, lighting the trail and the entire room on fire. Carol and Gloria close the door and lock it, trapping the men inside the burning room. They grimace and close their eyes as they hear the screams of pain from the men burning alive. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Gloria says, snapping herself out of their trance.

She leads the way down the hallways to find an exit, but not without seeing the bodies of the people they’d killed. Maggie and Gloria walk side by side and Carol is behind them with her gun in hand, getting the most coverage as they come to a door leading to the outside. Just as they’re about to open it, they’re temporarily blinded by the light from outside as the door opens from the other side. 

Glenn is on the other side of the door, holding up a rifle but lowers it immediately when he sees Maggie. Daryl rushes in from behind Glenn and hugs Gloria tightly.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks, pulling back and gently caressing her face with his thumb.

Gloria purses her lips and forces herself to nod. He looks over to Carol and reaches out for her, putting his arms protectively around both Gloria and Carol. Gloria looks over at Glenn and he catches her eye, he reaches his hand out and firmly holds her arm. The siblings nod at each other before Glenn goes back to tend to Maggie who’s crying at what they had just endured. She had filled in Rick that they had killed everyone who took them, that there is no one else left.

Rick looks to the man named Primo, “all your friends are dead and you have no one coming for you, I suggest you talk. Was Negan back at the outpost or was he here?” 

“Both,” Primo looks at Rick with a grimace, “I’m Negan, shithead.”

His words cause Rick to shift on his feet then nods, “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

Without another word, Rick pulls out his gun and shoots him in the head without hesitation. Gloria shudders at the sight then looks to Carol, the two of them sharing a knowing look. All three of them, Maggie, Carol, and Gloria knew that this was far from over. They have a feeling that they just started something much worse than they had ever intended. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

A few days have passed since the group had taken out the Saviors but ever since then, Gloria had seemingly closed herself off. Giving barely full sentence answers when spoken to and avoiding everyone in general. She hasn’t been able to fall asleep at night and of course, Daryl noticed her change in behavior. He didn’t know how to help her or approach her without bringing up what had happened. It also didn’t help that she wasn’t admitting that she wasn’t okay either. She always told Daryl that she was alright whenever he asked. 

Knowing that her, Maggie, and Carol were going through something, Denise and Rosita didn’t mind taking over her shifts at the infirmary. They wanted to let her have as much time to herself as needed. Gloria was sitting at the island counter reading one of the books she’d borrowed from Harlan. She wanted to study as much as she could so she could help Maggie as much as possible. 

“Hey.” Daryl calls out to her when he enters the house.

Gloria looks up at him and gives him a small smile before looking back down at the book. He walks up to her and bites his lip.

“Ya okay?” he asks.

She sighs at his question and looks up at him, “can you stop asking me if I’m okay? You asked me for the thousandth time in the last three days. I’m fine.”

“Ya ain’ actin’ like it.” he tells her, sighing, “ya haven’t been the same after the Saviors.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she retorts.

“This is the most I heard ya talk in the last few days.” Daryl calls her out.

Gloria rolls her eyes at him, “I just didn’t feel like talking but that doesn’t mean I’m a completely different person.” 

Daryl was about to respond to her when there was a knock on the door. He lets out a breath as he goes to open the door, it was Glenn. He and Daryl nod at each other as he lets the other man into the house. Glenn goes over to Gloria with a worried expression.

“Hey.” he greets her.

“Is Maggie okay?” she asks, her expression mirroring his.

He nods, “Maggie’s fine… but she told me what happened back at the compound, I know what you had to do.” 

Gloria freezes at his words. She wasn’t ready to have this conversation nor did she want to, not with Glenn, not with Daryl, not with anyone.

“You keep telling everyone that you’re okay, but how can you be after what happened?” Glenn says.

Her eyes well up with tears, “I have to be okay…”

“It’s okay to not be okay after killing those people,” Glenn takes a breath, “you did it because you were protecting yourself, it was out of self defense.”

“It wasn’t even self defense…” Gloria lets a tear roll down her cheek, “when I killed the men that took me and Nina… the ones that raped her… **that** was self defense… even killing Nina was… but this? What happened with the Saviors? We could have let them go, I even had one of them tied up, she couldn’t do anything to us but I… I still killed her… I stabbed her in the back of the head when she was completely helpless…” 

Daryl stood behind Glenn, listening to their conversation but he couldn’t help himself from asking the question, “why?” there was no judgement in his voice, just curiosity.

“That was the mission…” Gloria says, looking down.

“You didn’t have to.” Glenn says.

“Yes, I did! I had to because if I didn’t, Carol would have, and I couldn’t let her… I couldn’t let Maggie do it either!” she snaps at him, she starts to break down, “I couldn’t… Maggie’s about to be a mother… I couldn’t let her get that blood on her hands… I couldn’t let Maggie live with that!” 

Glenn looks down, his heart filling up with guilt. He remembered back to what he had asked of her before they went into the Savior’s compound. This was because of him, because Gloria cares so much about him. 

“You didn’t have to do that…” he says softly, pulling her into a tight hug, “I’m sorry for putting all of that on you… I’m so sorry…”

Gloria whimpers then starts to sob in her brother’s arms. She wraps her arms around him and lets out her emotions she’d been keeping in for all this time. Daryl smiles fondly at the siblings, then retreats from the house. He leans on the railing on the porch, lighting up a cigarette; he wanted to give the siblings some privacy. He was glad that Gloria was finally about to let out everything that had been pent up inside her. She didn’t know it, but Daryl had confided in Glenn, telling him that she wasn’t alright even when she kept insisting that she was. It was the only thing he could do since he knew that Glenn would be the one to get through to her. There was only one person who could and that was Glenn.

“You should talk to Daryl, he’s been really worried about you.” Glenn says as he pats her back.

“I know… I know…” she sniffles and pulls away from Glenn, “you think he’s mad at me?”

Glenn shakes his head, “doubt it, but even if he is, you still gotta talk to him about it, he really cares about you, he won’t stay mad at you for long.”

Gloria nods, “thanks bro…”

He smiles and ruffles her hair, “now go clean yourself up, then talk to Daryl. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Gloria smiles at him and nods. Glenn pats her shoulder then leaves the house as Gloria goes to the washroom to wash the tears from her face. She then steps outside after cleaning herself up. She was hesitant to step to Daryl after snapping at him earlier. She felt guilty for taking it out on him and pushing him away in general. Gloria gathers up the courage to stand beside him, leaning on the railing but neither of them speak. They stand together on the porch for a while until Gloria nudges his arm with her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you away.” she mumbles, looking down to the ground. 

Daryl looks at her and wraps his arm around her, pulling her close before kissing her temple, “t’s okay.”

Gloria snakes her arms around his torso, snuggling into him. She knew that he understood why she acted the way she did, but that didn’t stop her from feeling bad about it.

“I jus’ hope that one day, ya’ll be able to talk to me when shit happens.” Daryl kisses the top of her head, “‘m here for ya too, ya know.”

“I know you are.” Gloria says, “I’m sorry… I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure if the others were going through the same thing as me, so I decided not to bring it up to anyone, I didn’t want to burden anyone with my shit.”

Daryl frowns at her words, pulling away from her to cup her face with both his hands, making her look at him, “now ya listen to me, ya ain’ ever gonna be a burden to anybody. Not to Glenn, not to me, not anybody. Ya got any problems ya come to us ‘cause we love ya an’ we’re always gonna be here for ya, got it?”

She smiles softly at his words and nods, “I got it.”

He removes his hands from her face and pulls her into his arms, embracing her tightly, “ya’ve always been there for me, so ya gotta let me be there for ya too.”

Gloria nods and nuzzles into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. She let herself bask in his warmth, in his love and affection. The two of them had come a long way since they met that one fateful day in the woods. Back then, it would have been hard to hear a full sentence out of Daryl and even more difficult to have him let someone else touch him. He’d grown a lot since then, grown to not be afraid to show how much he cared about her. She was the most important person to him now, and he wasn’t ever going to let anything happen to her. 

—

The next morning, Gloria was about to head out to find Carol before her shift at the infirmary. She wanted to check on her and see if she was alright after the events they had to endure. On her way out, Gloria bumps into Daryl who was about to go back to find her. 

“Hey, I’m gonna go out on a run with Rosita an’ Denise.” he informs her.

Gloria furrows her brows in confusion, “Denise?”

“Mm.” Daryl hums, nodding, “she said somethin’ ‘bout some pharmacy place and wanted to go check it out.”

“Should I go with you instead?” she asks, she was worried about Denise since she knew she barely had any experience outside the walls.

“Nah, Denise is forcin’ us to take her, said she’d go alone if we didn’t.” Daryl sighs, shaking his head.

“She must’ve gotten her stubbornness from hanging out with me too much.” Gloria mumbles, pursing her lips together.

Daryl smirks, “yeah, she probably did.”

His words cause her to eye him playfully, nudging him as he chuckles at her, “you be careful out there.”

He nods then pulls her in for a kiss. The two go off in their separate directions. Gloria finds Carol on Tobin’s porch, sitting on the patio swing chair smoking a cigarette. 

“Hey Carol.” Gloria calls out with a small smile.

Carol smiles back at her and moves over to let her sit down beside her. 

“How’re you feeling?” Gloria asks.

Carol sighs, “I can’t stop thinking about it… all the people I’ve killed…”

Her words confuse Gloria, “what do you mean all the people you killed…?” to her knowledge, she only killed Paula that day and a few more when the W group had invaded, and those were out of self defense.

Carol chuckles bitterly and takes a puff from her cigarette, “I’ve killed at least eighteen people.”

Gloria’s eyes widen at her words, “w-what?”

Carol’s eyes well up with tears as she looks at Gloria, “I was the one who killed Karen and David back at the prison.”

“Carol… t-that was… you were just trying to stop the virus from spreading, you’d do anything, **anything** to keep us all safe.”

“I would…” she nods, her voice breaking, her breath shaky as she struggles to speak, “Lizzie…” 

Gloria looks at Carol, her heart breaking at the sight of her friend in such a distressed state. She held her hand that was lying in her lap, squeezing gently to give her comfort and possibly strength to say what she needed to. Carol’s face was drenched with tears, her expression pained.

“I had to kill Lizzie…” she whispers the confession, “she thought that… that the walkers could be saved… and to prove it… she killed Mika… she couldn’t be around people….”

Tears well up in Gloria’s eyes as she takes in Carol’s words. She loved those girls like her own, after losing Sophia, Carol should never have to go through the pain of losing more children. Gloria doesn’t even know what to say, no words could comfort or take the pain away. She keeps her hold on Carol’s hand tight, hoping the gesture could let Carol know that she’s here with her, that she didn’t blame or judge her for her choices. She knew that everything that Carol did was for the safety and protection of their family. 

“I don’t… I don’t want to kill anymore… I can’t… I just can’t…” Carol shakes her head, crying to Gloria.

“You don’t have to kill anymore, Carol.” Gloria tries to tell her but Carol shakes her head in protest.

“I do! I do! As long as there are people here that I care about, I have to!” she sobs, “I can’t… I can’t stay here anymore…”

“W-what do you mean?” Gloria frowns, hoping she’s not planning on leaving.

“I can’t stay with anyone… I can’t! Otherwise I’ll have to keep killing to protect you all, I just can’t!” Carol chokes out then looks at Gloria with pleading eyes, “please don’t stop me… if you care about me, you’ll let me go, let me leave!” 

Gloria tightens her jaw to keep from crying, “where… where are you gonna go?”

“Away… away from everyone.” Carol says, wiping her face of tears.

Knowing that nothing she says can change her mind, Gloria nods and pulls her into a tight hug, “you take care of yourself, you hear me? Be careful… and please, for the love of God, stay alive…” she whispers in her ear.

Carol smiles softly and nods, “I won’t die… I’m not the type to.”

—

Gloria sat in the infirmary alone as Rosita had taken Denise out for a run with Daryl. She was sitting by the window with a book on pregnancy that Harlan had lent to her. She was supposed to be reading it but after her conversation with Carol, she found it hard to concentrate, she kept reading the same page over and over again. She hated that she couldn’t deny what Carol had said, that they had to kill in order to protect those they loved. She couldn’t stop her from leaving, she only hoped that Carol would change her mind, and if anything say goodbye to them before she leaves. 

A commotion from outside snaps her out of her train of thought. She gets up from her seat when the door to the infirmary opens, and Daryl, Rosita, and Abraham carry in Eugene. Gloria clears the bed for him immediately.

“What happened?” Gloria asks Rosita.

“He got shot.” Rosita informs.

Gloria nods and takes a gauze, applying pressure on his wound, “Denise, I need tweezers, alcohol, and more gauze.” 

The atmosphere in the room drops at the mention of Denise’s name. No one moves and Gloria looks at Rosita with a frown in confusion. Rosita gives her a sad look and shakes her head. A realization hits Gloria that Denise didn’t make it back from the run. She closes her eyes and lets out a shaky breath, then looks at Rosita again.

“Rosita, tweezers, alcohol, and gauze, now!” she orders, she didn’t mean to yell, but she needed to keep her composure for Eugene’s sake. 

Rosita nods, not taking her tone of voice to heart as she understands. She goes to get the equipment Gloria asked for and once she returns, Gloria proceeds to remove the bullet from Eugene’s torso. Once the bullet was removed and Gloria made sure Eugene was in a stable condition, Gloria escaped to the outside of the infirmary. She sits on the porch steps with her face in her hands, crying for the loss of Denise. 

She was probably one of her closest friends since she arrived at Alexandria. She took her under her wing as a mentee and Denise always looked up to her. Gloria was so proud of her and how much she grew as a doctor. Regret and guilt coursed through her veins as she thought about her, Gloria should have gone on that run instead. She should have forced it on her, used her seniority or something, anything to prevent her from going but she just let it happen. As if there were no dangers outside the walls, she failed to protect her friend. 

The door to the infirmary opens and Daryl storms outside, passing Gloria on the porch. 

“Daryl?” she calls out, emotion thick in her voice, he stops in his steps and glances back towards her over his shoulder, “w-what happened?” she just had to know.

Daryl looks down, jaw tightening, “she got shot with my own crossbow… I shoulda killed that son of a bitch…” 

He huffs, seemingly angry and goes off on his way. Gloria sits there, watching him as he leaves, soaking in his words. It wasn’t an accident. Someone killed Denise. It wasn’t a walker, but a person. Someone murdered her friend. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This IS a Character Insert Series Rewrite so this WILL contain spoilers for the show. ALL Major Character deaths will not be changed!

The night of Denise’s death, Daryl had brought back her body and buried her in the town’s graveyard. It was late. Way passed midnight, but neither Gloria nor Daryl could sleep. Gloria laid in bed for hours, wide awake and hurting from the day’s loss. She decided to get up, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all that night. Walking out of her bedroom, she sees Daryl sitting on the steps of their porch. Gloria sighs as she makes her way to the door to go sit by his side. The two of them sit in silence for a while.

“What happened wasn’t your fault.” Gloria whispers.

Daryl glances over at her and sighs, “don’t start…”

“You think that it’s because of you that she died, it’s not.” she says, looking at him.

“Yes it is,” he argues, “t’s ‘cause I didn’t… I didn’ kill that prick back in the woods…. If I did, Denise’d still be alive…”

Gloria puts her hand on his arm, “Daryl… no one but you thinks that way.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m the only one that sees the damn truth!” he scoffs, “e’ryone else’s fuckin’ naive…”

She sighs, knowing that there was no way to get Daryl to think otherwise, this was a losing argument. Gloria wraps her arms around him and holds him tight to her. She presses her lips to his bare shoulder; his skin was cold due to the chilly night air. Daryl doesn’t budge but also doesn’t push her away. He lets her attempt to comfort his guilty heart, regret still coursing through his veins. 

At the first sight of dawn, Daryl nudges her to let go of him. He looks at her with soft eyes and purses his lips together.

“‘M gonna be okay…” he tells her.

His words make her frown in worry, she knew he was lying. It was clear that Daryl wasn’t alright and he wouldn’t be for a long time. 

“Daryl…” she calls, her hand squeezing his gently to let him know that she’s there for him but he gently pulls away.

He caresses her cheek with his knuckles then gets up from the porch, but not before pressing a kiss to her forehead. Gloria helplessly watches him walk away. She doesn’t chase after him as she knows that he needs and wants his own space to collect himself. His small signs of affection told her that. She decides to take up her shift at the infirmary for the morning but that proved to be a horrible idea. All she could think about was Denise and how they would fool around together during their shifts rather than actually working. Thinking it would be better for her to get some closure, Gloria heads outside towards the graveyard to pay her respects to Denise. She thought that she would feel better if she could say goodbye to her friend.

“I’m sorry…” Gloria sighs as she stands in front of Denise’s grave, “I should have never let you go out there… not you…”

Tears stream down her face, unable to contain her emotions as she grieves, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I’m sorry for letting this happen to you… for letting Tara down… Oh God… Tara…”

How could she ever face Tara? She depended on her to keep Denise safe while she was off on her run with Heath. Now, she’s going to come back and find out that her girlfriend is dead. All because she let her go out on a run.

“I promise you… we’ll find the asshole who did this to you and kill him… we will.” Gloria seethes.

Her attention is pulled away by the sudden sound of a revving motorcycle. She looks in the direction of the sound and sees Daryl zooming down the streets towards the gates of Alexandria.

“Oh no…” Gloria says under her breath then bolts towards him to stop him from leaving.

Daryl gets off his bike as he reaches the gate with Rosita eyeing him as he pulls the gate open. 

“Where are you going?” she asks, her arms crossed.

“Out.” is all Daryl says.

“No shit,” Abraham calls out from atop the watch platform, “got any specifics?”

Daryl ignores him as he pulls back the outer gate.

“Daryl!” Gloria calls out as she reaches him, she knows what he wants to do, “I’m coming with you.”

He pauses and looks at her before shaking his head and mounting his bike, “no way.”

He doesn’t wait for her to say anything else and zooms out of Alexandria, not even stopping with Gloria shouting at him. She swears in frustration then looks behind her to see Glenn and Michonne getting into a truck with Rosita.

“You need to stay here to keep our numbers!” Glenn tries to argue.

“I know where he’s going!” Rosita shouts back, she then gets into the back seat.

Without asking, Gloria rushes to the truck and gets into the back seat as well, making Glenn frown at her, “what are you doing? You’re not coming with us!”

“I’m probably the only person who can stop him from doing something stupid, now turn around and drive before we’re too late!” Gloria shouts.

Glenn sighs, frustrated but turns around anyway, knowing that Gloria was right. Rosita directs them to a railroad track where the four of them get out of their truck. Michonne, Glenn, and Gloria follow behind Rosita but she stops walking as she reaches a puddle of dried blood.

“This is where she died…” she says in a solemn voice.

Gloria heaves a sigh as Glenn takes a step closer to Rosita, “is this where you think Daryl went?”

“He was here.” Michonne answers for Rosita as she pulls back a bush concealing Daryl’s bike.

Gloria walks towards the hidden opening in the forest as Glenn and Rosita argue about whether or not they should let Daryl go on his revenge quest. She decides to drown them out as discussing the situation isn’t getting them any closer to finding Daryl. Fortunately, she was able to find some of Daryl’s tracks. She wasn’t as good a tracker as her archer, but she was getting better with practice. 

Gloria goes off on her own to follow him, not wanting to lose any more time as she knows how rash Daryl could be. She traces the tracks to a part of the forest when she’s startled by a bolt hitting a tree close to her head. She looks at the bolt then in the direction it had shot from and sees Daryl eyeing her. Gloria huffs and pulls the bolts out of the tree and walks towards him.

“Did you just try to shoot me?” she frowns at him.

“I shot a tree…” he says, “ya shouldn’ta come.”

“What else am I supposed to do? Let you go on this stupid suicide mission on your own and wait at home for you like an idiot?” Gloria asks rhetorically.

“Tha’s exactly what you’re supposed to do!” he retorts back.

She sighs, “Daryl, I told you, it wasn’t your fault!”

“I told ya, it was!” he huffs, pacing around angrily, “I’m the one who let that prick go when I first met ‘em! I shoulda killed him then! Then… then maybe Denise would still be alive.”

Gloria steps up to him and holds his hand, “Daryl…”

“Ya lost yer friend ‘cause o’ me…” he utters breathily. 

“No… it wasn’t because of you. Just because you didn’t kill him doesn’t mean that Denise’s death is on you, it’s not!” Gloria tries to convince him as she tries to hold her tears back.

“I coulda prevented it.” he mumbles.

“You can’t prevent everything bad from happening… but you also can’t charge in head first like this, I want him dead too for what he did, both to you **and** to Denise, but we need a plan.” Gloria tugs at his hand with both of her hands, pleading, “come back home with me, please? We’ll figure this out together, we will.”

Daryl lets out a shaky breath then finally nods, agreeing to go back with her to Alexandria. She smiles softly at him and starts to lead him back to the railroad. 

“We should find Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita. They all came out here to look for you.” Gloria informs him, “we were all worried about you.”

“‘M sorry.” he says, looking down. 

She gently squeezes his hand in comfort, “don’t be, that’s what family’s for.”

Before the two make it back to the railroad tracks, Daryl spots something in the distance and gently pulls his hand out of Gloria’s grasp. She looks back at him about to call out to him but he raises his finger to his lips to make sure she stays quiet. Daryl lowers his body as he goes to inspect the scene he’d caught and frowns when he gets closer. Gloria carefully follows him, mimicking his movements and her breath hitches when she sees Glenn, Michonne, and Rosita on their knees held at gunpoint.

“Glenn…” Gloria whispers in worry.

Daryl raises his crossbow as Glenn’s eyes catch the two hiding in the bushes. A look of worry spreads on Glenn’s face and he shakes his head at the two. Gloria furrows her brow in confusion at his expression. They were the ones being held captive, why was he looking at them as if they were?

“Hi Daryl.”

Gloria freezes at the sound of an unfamiliar voice behind them as it’s followed by the clicking of a gun hammer. She glances around her as more people surround them in the forest. She looks towards Daryl as he turns around to face the owner of the voice. 

“No!” Gloria’s shriek is drowned out by the loud boom of the man’s gun.

She catches Daryl as he falls back from the shot, groaning in pain from being shot in the shoulder. He glares angrily at the shooter as he lowers the gun.

“You’ll be alright.”

—

The five of them were thrown into the back of a truck. The doors were closed, leaving them in darkness. Their only source of light coming in from the holes that were pierced through the door itself. The men had given Daryl a dirty cloth to wrap up the wound in his shoulder but Gloria wasn’t letting that touch him. Instead, she took off her cotton cardigan and wrapped it around his shoulder, putting pressure on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

It felt like hours that they’ve been trapped inside the back of the truck. Their eyes have all adjusted to the darkness as Glenn looks over to Daryl and Gloria. 

“How’s he doing?” he asks with a worried frown.

“‘M alive.” Daryl answers then sighs, “‘m sorry…”

“Stop it.” Gloria interrupts him, “you gotta stop taking responsibility for everything and making it your fault.”

“We’ll get out of this.” Rosita reassures him.

Michonne hums in agreement, “you just got shot, you got a long way to go before you can catch up to Gloria’s survival rate.”

Daryl scoffs at her words as the others let out a small chuckle. 

“We’ll get through this.” Gloria whispers, kissing his temple, “we’ll kill all the Saviors out there.”

It isn’t long before they all hear muffled talking just outside the truck and then the door opens, temporarily blinding them as the light pours inside. No matter how tight Gloria’s hold on Daryl is, whoever was outside the truck roughly dragged him out, followed by Michonne, Rosita, Gloria, and Glenn. Gloria looks over to Daryl to make sure he’s alright. He catches her look and nods to her to reassure her.

“M-Maggie?”

Fear courses through her as she hears Glenn calling out to his wife. She dares to look around and her eyes land on Maggie who looks pale and weak as she kneels on the ground. Her eyes trail the lineup of people, recognizing the others as Rick, Sasha, Aaron, Abraham, Carl, and Eugene. Everyone there, she considered family. How could this be happening? They were all surrounded by an estimate of at least fifty, maybe even a hundred people, all armed with weapons. 

“It’s a full house!” a man with a curly mustache calls out, “let’s meet the man!”

He goes over to the RV parked in front of everyone and knocks on the door three times before stepping out of the way. The door of the RV opens and out steps a man in a clean leather jacket, weilding a baseball bat that seems to be wrapped in barbed wire. A sick menacing grin on his face as he looks at the lineup.

“Pissin’ our pants yet?” he calls out then steps towards the group, “Boy, do I have a feelin’ we’re gettin’ close.”

He steps towards the group and scans the group, then steps in front of Rick, “You’re Rick, right? Hi, I’m Negan. And I do **not** appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people! Not cool… not cool!”

He paces around as he makes his speech about how ‘not cool’ it was to kill his men. They needed to find a way out of this and quick, but there was barely anything that they could do. Without weapons and being surrounded in a forest at night, what could they do besides try and talk their way out of this. 

“And the new world order is this, and it’s really very simple. So, even if you’re stupid, which you very well may be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes: Give me your shit, or I will kill you.” he continues his long speech.

Gloria glances towards Rick, she could tell that he was not going to give this guy what he wanted, not without a fight. She just hoped that he had a better plan than she had because she really didn’t know what to do. She looks at Maggie, worry in her heart as she looks like she’s about to collapse. What the hell was she even doing out here in the first place? 

“This is Lucille.” Negan holds up his barbed wire bat triumphantly, “and she… is **awesome**. And one of you lucky pricks get to be picked off by her! But who will it be? I simply cannot decide.”

He walks down the lineup torturously slow, holding his bat up to point and stops at Maggie.

“Woah, you look like shit! I might as well put you out of your misery right now!” Negan lifts up his bat just as Glenn lets out a scream.

“No!” he lunges forward to stop him from hurting Maggie, “Don’t!”

Negan’s men quickly stop him by knocking him down, kicking him in the stomach multiple times. Gloria and Maggie shout for them to stop, but neither of them daring to help as the man who had shot Daryl has his crossbow pointed at Glenn’s head. 

“Get him back in line.” Negan orders, “now that is **not** appropriate. If any of you do that again, I will shut that shit down. No exceptions. First one’s free, it’s an emotional moment, I get it.”

Glenn’s dragged back in line beside Gloria as Negan warns them all about having an emotional outburst. Negan lets out a content sigh as he looks around again with a sickening smile.

“I got an idea.” 

Negan proceeds to go up and down the lineup, singing the sick nursery rhyme of ‘Eenie Meenie Miney Mo’. At every word, he points to one person through the group, as if deciding to kill one from their group was just a game to him. 

“And you. Are. It.” Negan smirks then looks around, “Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut the boy’s other eye out and feed it to his father and **then** we’ll start.

He holds his bat in his hands, preparing himself for what he’s about to do, all still bearing a horrid grin, “You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you’re all gonna be doing that.”

Without another word, he swings his bat down on Abraham’s skull. Screams and cries echo throughout the woods as he continues to beat him to death, not even stopping when blood and brains coated the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we have reached the end of Season 6! On Monday, the first chapter of Season 7 will be posted in another part of my series, Fated! 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, your support means the world to me! Love you all~! ❤❤❤


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